Bill Cosby seeks to ban flowers, badges, slogans from retrial
NORRISTOWN » As the second legal showdown between prosecutors and Bill Cosby nears, his lawyers want a judge to ban “prejudicial displays of support or opposition to either side” by spectators attending the actor’s sexual assault retrial.
Defense lawyer Thomas Mesereau Jr. said during Cosby’s first trial last June, several women who accuse Cosby of uncharged sexual misconduct packed the courtroom wearing “large, bright pink badges with the message, ‘We Stand In Truth’ in bold letters, prominently displayed on their lapels” and carried large pink bouquets of flowers to match their badges.
“Their stated purpose was to show ‘solidarity’ for the complaining witness, Andrea Constand,” Mesereau wrote in papers filed in Montgomery County Court. “Such outward expressions of these individuals’ opinions of Mr. Cosby’s guilt in the courtroom inevitably can have a subconscious effect on a jury that undermines Mr. Cosby’s presumption of innocence.”
Mesereau and co-defense lawyers Kathleen Bliss, Becky James and Lane Vines added some of the women are members of a Facebook group “We Support the Survivors of Bill Cosby,” a social media page that features anti-Cosby articles and messages and photos of themselves at Cosby’s first trial.
Leading up to the second trial slated to begin April 2 with jury selection, numerous people and organizations have sought volunteers to create distractions outside, if not inside, of the courthouse, the defense team contended.
“Such diversions have no place in the impartial proceedings to be presented to the jury. In order to protect the rights of the accused and to maintain decorum in this court, it is incumbent upon this court to restrict any and all improper conduct by members of the public that could potentially influence the jury or otherwise disrupt the trial and related proceedings,” Mesereau wrote.
“A jury’s verdict must be based only upon evidence presented during the course of the trial and not on extraneous commentary presented in the form of public opinion,” the defense lawyers added.
Mesereau wants Judge Steven T. O’Neill to amend a previously released courtroom decorum order to prohibit, inside the courtroom and in adjoining hallways, people from wearing or possessing clothing and accessories embossed with symbolic messages; buttons, pins or hats of any kind; flowers; photographs; and banners, posters or other “expressive props.”
“That said, Mr. Cosby is not requesting exclusion of these individuals. Rather, he asks only that the court prohibit spectators from wearing any item of clothing or bringing with them any prop that is outwardly supportive of either side or engaging in distracting and prejudicial behavior,” Mesereau wrote.
Those unwilling to comply with the prohibitions “should be promptly removed from the proceedings and not allowed to reenter for the duration of the trial,” Mesereau argued in court papers.
O’Neill could address the defense request when he holds the final pretrial hearings in the case on March 29.
The judge previously approved a decorum order, developed by court administrators and the county sheriff in cooperation with a committee formed by the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters and the Pennsylvania News Media Association, which sets restrictions and addresses such things as pool reporting, news media interviews, public seating in the courtroom and bans all electronic transmissions from the courtroom.
William Henry Cosby Jr., as his name appears on charging documents, faces three counts of aggravated indecent assault in connection with allegations he had inappropriate sexual contact with Constand. Cosby has maintained his contact with Constand was consensual.