Bill Cosby jury selected: seven men, five women

NORRISTOWN, Pa. — The panel that will be charged with deciding Bill Cosby’s fate was finalized Wednesday, as lawyers completed a three-day search for 12 Montgomery County residents who hadn’t already made up their minds about the case.

In the end, all but one member of the new panel said that they were at least somewhat familiar with the sexual assault allegations at the center of the 80-year-old entertainer’s first trial in Norristown last year. Some even said they had heard that a previous set of 12 jurors had been unable to reach a unanimous verdict in June, a deadlock that prompted a mistrial.

Cosby’s new defense team — led by attorney Tom Mesereau — separately accused prosecutors of attempting to deliberately exclude both older white men and African-Americans from the panel during the selection process. Seven men and five women, including one African-American man and one African-American woman, were ultimately chosen from the more than 230 Montgomery County residents summoned this week.

The lawyers will return to the courthouse Thursday to continue the hunt for six alternates, in case one of the jurors is removed.

All 18 will be sequestered starting Sunday evening for the duration of what is expected to be a monthlong trial, scheduled to begin Monday.

O’Neill has sealed identifying information about jurors due to concern about the overwhelming publicity that has followed the case from the start. The dozen chosen so far range in age from people who appear to be in their 20s to those who appear to be in their 50s.