USA TODAY International Edition
BIGGEST CELEB CASE SINCE MICHAEL JACKSON Assault trial may have implications that reach cultural and criminal worlds
Soon, maybe as early as this summer, Americans will watch as once- beloved entertainer Bill Cosby becomes the most famous celebrity to be tried on criminal charges since Michael Jackson.
Cosby’s trial won’t be televised, as O. J. Simpson’s murder trial was in 1994, because Pennsylvania Supreme Court rules prohibit cameras in courtrooms.
Even so, today’s 24/ 7 news cycle, plus social media, provide myriad opportunities for people to follow what happens in suburban Philadelphia when Cosby faces a jury on three charges of aggravated indecent assault.
The implications for the criminal justice system and popular culture could be far- reaching, as they were in the Simpson case.
Already, as a direct result of
the Cosby case, lawmakers in some states are pushing to extend statutes of limitation on sexual assault, so accusers can pursue criminal charges even if alleged crimes happened decades before.
No matter the lack of camera lights, a Cosby trial will be “huge,” says Howard Bragman, founder of Fifteen Minutes PR and veteran Hollywood publicist.
“It’s going to be the newest reality show,” Bragman predicts. Even without the media in the courtroom? “They will use every trick they can — remember when ( some media) re- enacted the O. J. Simpson civil trial transcripts ( in 1996)? That may happen again.”
When it comes to pop culture, the Cosby case has already had impact — on Cosby, says Robert Thompson, historian and head of Syracuse University’s Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture. “Cosby went from being the beloved king at the top of the heap of American pop culture to someone whose reputation has been completely decimated,” Thompson says. “I don’t know how much more could happen as a result of the trial. Even if he’s acquitted, which is a possibility, it’s not as though that will mean contracts ( for him) will start rolling in again.”
Tuesday, a judge in Montgomery County, Pa., ruled at a preliminary hearing there’s enough evidence to try Cosby, 78, in connection with an encounter in 2004 with a former Temple University employee at his home in Montgomery County. Cosby contends the encounter was consensual; accuser Andrea Constand, 43, says she was drugged and molested without her consent.
Judge Elizabeth McHugh said the trial could start July 20 with a formal arraignment, but Cosby waived his right to that, so the proceeding could start sometime after.
But maybe not right away: Both sides are likely to joust with multiple motions about what evidence can be admitted at trial. Some legal experts told the Associated Press it could be a year or more before Cosby goes to trial.
Still, a trial is virtually certain, despite Cosby’s efforts to get the charges dismissed based on an unwritten immunity deal he got from a former district attorney in 2005. His latest appeal on this issue is pending before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
Stuart Slotnick, a New York defense attorney and former prosecutor who has been following the case, says if the state Supreme Court wanted to intervene, it would have done so by now.
“The Supreme Court will not review this legal issue unless and until Cosby is convicted and appeals post- conviction,” Slotnick says. “They will sit on the sidelines ... and if Cosby is convicted, he will be back to knock on their door to say now is the time for you to decide this very important issue of law.”
It may be that the only way Cosby can avoid a trial is if he dies ( or his accuser dies).
“If he were to pass away before his conviction is final, it will not count as a conviction in most jurisdictions,” says James Cohen, a criminal law professor and trial procedure expert at Fordham Law School.
Among other issues to be decided before the trial, Cosby is likely to argue that his deposition in a 10- year- old civil suit by Constand — in which he acknowledged obtaining drugs to give to women he sought for sex — should not be admitted. He can be expected to argue against introducing testimony from some of the other nearly 60 accusers who have said he drugged and/ or raped them in episodes dating back to the mid- 1960s.
District Attorney Kevin Steele
will not want the jury to hear Cosby claim he is a victim of a “political witch hunt,” since Steele won election in November in part by promising to pursue Cosby on criminal charges. In December, days before the statute of limitations ran out, he filed the charges.
Could there be a change of venue because of pretrial publicity? Unlikely, because there’s virtually no place in America Cosby could go where his formerly sterling reputation remains intact and potential jurors have not heard that he’s been accused of being a serial rapist.
Once trial proceeds, there are three possible outcomes, Slotnick says:
He could be acquitted — found not guilty, as Michael Jackson was in 2005 on charges of child molestation. Thompson says prosecutors in the Cosby case will have a tougher time than prosecutors in the Simpson case — and Simpson was acquitted.
Cosby has a “very good chance” of getting off, Slotnick says. “If the jurors follow their oath, ( they can) convict only if they believe he’s guilty beyond a reasonable doubt,” he says. “That’s a high standard to meet.”
Cosby could be convicted on some or all of the charges.
“Or there could be a mistrial because of potential misconduct by either a juror or one of the legal teams,” Slotnick says. “Or because at the end of the case, the jurors can’t unanimously reach a verdict.
One thing is clear: Constand will have to testify in person. At the preliminary hearing, she did not testify; prosecutors submitted her 2005 statement to police about what she says Cosby did, and the judge deemed that enough evidence to proceed. That won’t apply at trial, and Steele has said Constand will testify.
“It’s called the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution,” Slotnick says. “He has a constitutional right — it’s a mandate that the complainant must appear in court, so the accused can confront the accuser, who is subject to cross- examination.”