With conviction, Bill Cosby could be on hook for trial costs
NORRISTOWN » Entertainer Bill Cosby may be facing decades in prison now that he’s been convicted of sexual assault, but he also could be on the hook for Montgomery County’s costs to prosecute him at a trial and retrial.
“Typically what is done … when a sentencing occurs there is also an assessment for the costs of prosecution. We expect to be arguing that the costs associated with both the trials, the sequestration and the sheriff’s costs, for this will go to the defendant,” Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele said on Thursday after Cosby was convicted of three felony counts of aggravated indecent assault.
Steele, referring to comments made by Cosby’s lead defense lawyer during his April 10 opening statement to jurors, suggested the trial costs should not be a challenge for Cosby.
During that opening statement, defense lawyer Thomas Mesereau Jr. suggested the $3,380,000 that Cosby paid Andrea Constand in October 2006 to settle a civil suit Constand filed against him for drugging and molesting her was “a paltry sum” and nothing more than a way to get rid of “a nuisance.”
“I would be relying on defense counsel’s opening remarks in this when he is talking about $3.38 million being a paltry sum or simply a nuisance. So clearly, the costs of prosecution in this matter should not be a problem for the defendant,” Steele said on Thursday.
The total cost associated with four days of jury selection and the 14-day retrial that ended on Thursday has not been compiled yet by county officials. The calculation of the expenses will require county officials to organize invoices from the various departments involved and to work with payroll staff.
The costs will include 18 days for the sequestration of the jury at an area hotel and the jurors’ meals, as well as round-the-clock security sheriff’s deputies.
Thursday’s guilty verdict against Cosby came at his second trial. During Cosby’s first trial last June a mistrial was declared when a jury could not reach a verdict.
When county officials completed their calculation of the expenses for Cosby’s first trial last year, they said by the cost of the trial reached $219,100. The expenses included $129,000 in personnel overtime costs, specifically, $98,600 for sheriff’s deputies; $14,400 for detectives; $14,100 for court staff; and $1,900 for security staff, according to county officials at the time.
For the first trial, that jury of seven men and five women and six alternates was selected in Allegheny County due to pretrial publicity in the case. Those jurors were bused to Montgomery County and housed at an area hotel and provided meals at the county’s expense throughout the trial.
More specifically, county officials said the juror expenses at the first trial reached $74,000, including $46,000 for accommodations and $14,000 for meals. The cost to transport the jurors was $7,300 and the selection process cost the county $6,700.
Court expenses reached $16,100, primarily to provide audio and video capabilities in Courtroom C, the overflow courtroom where attendees could view a livestream of the trial, taking place in Courtroom A, on a large projection screen.
The same technology was used for the retrial.
Whenever he was asked in the past about the costs of such a high-profile trial, Steele would say, “You can’t put a price on justice.”
Cosby, 80, was convicted on Thursday of charges he sexually assaulted Constand, a former Temple University athletic department employee, after plying her with “three blue pills,” at his Cheltenham mansion in January 2004. Cosby remains free on 10 percent of $1 million bail while awaiting his sentencing hearing later this year.
Cosby faces a possible maximum sentence of 15 to 30 years in prison on the charges. However, state sentencing guidelines could allow for a lesser sentence.