Bill Cosby is facing up to a decade in jail for an alleged sexual assault. The 79-year-old actor and comedian was charged for allegedly drugging and molesting a Temple University employee named Andrea Constand. Now, news has surfaced that Cosby's sexual assault trial will begin June 5, 2017.
Cosby will be on trial for three aggravated assault charges. According to Judge Steven O'Neill, the trial will more than likely last up to two weeks. When discussing the trial timeline at the pre-trial hearing that took place this past Monday, O'Neill noted that the amount of time the trial is estimated to last is surprising considering the amount of time passed since charges were filed by the victim. The charges were filed in December 2015. Since the filing of the charges, multiple pre-trial hearings took place and found prosecutors and defense lawyers going back and forth about how the trial should commence.
The pre-trial hearing that took place this past Monday solely focused on jury selection for the case. Jurors selected to participate in the case will be chosen from Pittsburgh, and they will be taken away and isolated in Norristown - located in Philadelphia. Judge O'Neill noted that he is looking to pick jurors for the case in late May. O'Neill also made it clear that the jurors names will not be made public. Cosby is looking to make sure that his own testimony from a 2006 deposition won't be used against in court, as his team views the deposition as "damaging." In the deposition, Cosby spoke about getting quaaludes and giving them to women he wanted to have sex with. The District Attorney on the case will be arguing that Cosby is familiar with date-rape drugs and even performed comedic bits about them in his shows.
