Judge: Flowers, pins, props banned from Bill Cosby retrial
Displays of support for either actor Bill Cosby or his accuser will be banned from the Montgomery County Courthouse when Cosby’s sexual assault retrial gets underway next month, a judge has ruled.
“Persons attending the proceedings are not permitted to wear, possess or display anything that would demonstrate support for, or opposition to, either side of the proceedings, or which could be interpreted as commenting upon matters related to the case,” Montgomery County President Judge Thomas M. DelRicci wrote in an order issued on Thursday.
The prohibition applies to the courtroom where the trial will take place as well to an overflow courtroom where the proceedings will be broadcast “and any area where jurors could be exposed to such displays in the courthouse,” the order reads.
The judge added the prohibitions to a previously released decorum order after Cosby’s defense lawyers complained that 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.
Defense lawyers Thomas Mesereau Jr., Kathleen Bliss, Becky S. James and Lane Vines, argued such expressions of ‘solidarity” for accuser Andrea Constand could have “a subconscious effect on a jury that undermines Mr. Cosby’s presumption of innocence.”
Mesereau asked the judge to amend the 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.”
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, also 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.
Cosby, 80, remains free on 10 percent of $1 million bail, pending the retrial.
Cosby’s first trial last June ended in a mistrial when jurors could not reach a verdict. District Attorney Kevin R. Steele immediately announced he would seek a retrial.
The newspaper does not normally identify victims of sex crimes without their consent but is using Constand’s name because she has identified herself publicly.