Public seats limited for Cosby’s legal drama
NORRISTOWN » The legal showdown between prosecutors and entertainer Bill Cosby is expected to attract extraordinary public interest.
But there are only a limited number of seats set aside for members of the public who might want to observe the celebrity trial, the highest-profile case that’s ever played out in a Montgomery County courtroom.
Under a specially-issued decorum order, 30 seats have been reserved for the general public in Courtroom A, the ceremonial courtroom where Cosby’s sexual assault trial will get under way on Monday.
Another 30 seats will be available for members of the public in Courtroom C, the so-called “overflow courtroom” where a video feed of the live trial proceedings will be displayed on a large projection screen.
Members of the public who want to attend the trial can obtain a daily, public pass beginning at 7:30 a.m. when a line will form in the vicinity of Courtroom A.
The passes will be distributed on a first-come, firstserved basis, officials said.
The courthouse public entrances open at 7:30 a.m. and everyone entering the courthouse must pass through a security screening area.
The 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, sets restrictions and addresses such things as pool reporting, news media interviews, media parking and credentialing.
Sixty journalists will be permitted in Courtroom A and another 60 seats have been reserved for reporters in the satellite courtroom.
No reporter or member of the public will be permitted to take food or beverages into the courtrooms.
No electronic transmission, video recording, sound recording or any other electronic duplication of the proceedings of any type will be permitted in Courtroom A, where the Cosby trial will commence at 9:30 a.m., or in Courtroom C, the second, satellite courtroom.
“Any person who violates the provisions of this order regarding the use of electronic devices will be subject to the penalties of contempt of court, including fines or summary incarceration…,” President Judge Thomas M. DelRicci and presiding Judge Steven T. O’Neill wrote in the decorum order filed in preparation for the Cosby trial.
While reporters and members of the public may carry cellphones or similar devices into the courtrooms, all devices must be turned off, not merely set to vibrate mode, and “out of sight at all times,” the judges ordered.
Reporters will be permitted to use laptops, tablets or similar devices in the courtrooms but solely for notetaking. Such devices cannot be used during the trial for electronic based communications and cannot be set to a mode that permits transmission of any form of communication to any person or device either in or out of the courthouse, the judges ruled.
“Any person who violates the provisions of this order regarding the use of electronic devices will be subject to the penalties of contempt of court, including fines or summary incarceration ….” — Montgomery County President Judge Thomas M. DelRicci