Year in Review: Bill Cosby trial results in mistrial

Bill Cosby

Comedian and actor Bill Cosby began 2017 awaiting trial for the alleged 2004 sexual assault of a woman at his Cheltenham mansion but the dramatic trial that played out in June and captured worldwide attention didn’t provide a resolution to those charges.

A mistrial was declared June 17 by Montgomery County Judge Steven T. O’Neill after a jury of seven men and five women selected from Allegheny County individually told the judge they were hopelessly deadlocked “on all counts” after deliberating more than 52 hours over six days. The deliberations took longer than the evidentiary portion of the trial.

District Attorney Kevin R. Steele immediately vowed to seek a retrial. O’Neill reminded Cosby, now 80, that the three counts of aggravated indecent assault lodged against him remain intact and that he will remain free on 10 percent of $1 million bail, pending the retrial.

That retrial is now set to begin with jury selection on April 2, 2018.

This time around Cosby has a new legal team, Tom Mesereau, Kathleen Bliss and Samuel W. Silver, who reportedly have spent the last several months reviewing the voluminous court records and transcripts associated with Cosby’s first trial. The new defense team made its first appearance in court in July.

Mesereau, of Los Angeles, who is well known for successfully representing singer Michael Jackson on molestation charges in 2004, told the judge the new defense team will not seek a change of venue or a jury from another county. Cosby’s jury will be comprised of Montgomery County residents.

During Cosby’s first trial, a jury from Allegheny County was selected after Cosby’s previous defense team argued pretrial publicity prevented Cosby from obtaining a fair and impartial jury in Montgomery County.

Mesereau, Bliss and Silver replace lawyers Brian J. McMonagle and Angela Agrusa, who represented Cosby at the June trial.

Mesereau, Bliss and Silver have not revealed if Cosby will testify at the retrial. Cosby did not testify during the first trial.

Steele, who is assisted by prosecutors M. Stewart Ryan and Kristen Feden, previously said prosecutors are “confident in our case and the evidence” and that the case “deserves a verdict and we intend to get there.”

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 Andrea Constand, a former Temple University athletic department employee, at his Cheltenham home after plying her with blue pills and wine sometime between mid-January and mid-February 2004. Cosby maintains his contact with Constand was consensual.

Cosby faces a possible maximum sentence of 15 to 30 years in prison if convicted of the charges.

According to the Mesereau Law Group’s web site, it “is dedicated to serving its very select clientele.” Mesereau is best known for representing the late Michael Jackson at a 2004 California trial at which Jackson was acquitted of all child molestation charges. Mesereau’s other celebrity clients have included actor Robert Blake and boxer Mike Tyson, according to Mesereau’s web site.

Silver, a partner with the Schnader Harrison Segal and Lewis firm in Philadelphia, previously represented U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah who was convicted of federal corruption charges in June 2016 and is serving a 10-year prison term. Silver, an adjunct faculty member of the University of Pennsylvania, also represented former Penn State President Graham Spanier at his child endangerment trial earlier this year.

Bliss, according to her biography, is a former federal prosecutor turned defense lawyer who has tried more than 50 federal criminal jury trials during her career.

Cosby’s new defense team has not provided any hints at potential trial strategies.

During Cosby’s June trial, McMonagle and Agrusa argued Cosby was the victim of false accusations and that the entertainer and Constand had a “romantic relationship” and consensual sexual contact during the 2004 incident. At one point during the trial, McMonagle stood beside Cosby and suggested to jurors that while Cosby may have been an unfaithful husband, that didn’t make him a criminal.

Prosecutors argued Cosby was a trusted friend and mentor who took advantage of a woman in a “vulnerable state,” and sexually assaulted Constand.

Constand, 44, of Ontario, Canada, testified over two days that after taking the blue pills she began slurring her words and became “frozen” or paralyzed and was unable to fight off Cosby’s sexual advances. Constand claimed Cosby placed her on a couch, touched her breasts, forced her to touch his penis and performed digital penetration all without her consent.

The 11-day trial came at a high cost for the county. When county officials completed their calculation of the Cosby trial expenses, they indicated the cost of the trial reached $219,100. The trial that began June 5 was the highest-profile case to ever play out in a county courtroom. – www.timesherald.com