Bill Cosby jury switch after defence team raises fair trial fears

0 Accused: Bill Cosby faces court over sexual allegations A jury from outside the Philadelphia suburbs will be brought in to decide the sexual assault case against Bill Cosby, a judge has ruled.

But a request to move the trialbecauseofworldwidemedia reports that brand the actor a “serial rapist” was rejected,

Montgomery County Judge Steven O’neill said jurors will remain sequestered during Cosby’s June trial on charges that he drugged and molested a woman in 2004.

O’neill’s ruling came after lawyers for the 79-year-old TV star argued that his trial should be moved to Philadelphia or the Pittsburgh area.

Thelarger,morediversepopulation would make it easier to find unbiased jurors, lawyer Brian Mcmonagle argued,

He said: “Unless you’ve been living under a rock, the message that has been promoted, in insidious fashion, is that Bill Cosby is guilty, and that Bill Cosby is a serial rapist,

“I do not believe that there’s a place anywhere in this country now where he can receive a fair trial. Not here, not anywhere. I hope I’m wrong.”

Prosecutors accused the defence of trying to shop for a jury.

District Attorney Kevin Steele called the pretrial publicity argument “a red herring”. He said Cosby couldn’t expect to find a jury anywhere that is “oblivious” to the dozens of sex assault accusations lodged against him.

“He’s not entitled to a jury that is ignorant of the facts surrounding his case,” Steele wrote. “The publicity that necessarily follows the rich and famous cannot insulate them from prosecution.” Police in Mexico’s southern state of Guerrero have found three dismembered bodies on the side of a motorway.

Pieces of the hacked-up, decapitated bodies were found in bags alongside the main road in the state capital, Chilpancingo.

The state security spokesman said the bodies apparently belonged to two men and one woman.

Roberto Alvarez said investigators were working to establish their identities.

Alvarez said indications were that the killings were part of a dispute between gangs over drugs sales.