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Jury selection for Bill Cosby's sex assault trial could be completed Wednesday

FILE PHOTO - Bill Cosby departs the Montgomery County Courthouse after a preliminary hearing in Norristown, Pennsylvania, U.S. on May 24, 2016.  REUTERS/Matt Rourke/Pool/File Photo
FILE PHOTO - Bill Cosby departs the Montgomery County Courthouse after a preliminary hearing in Norristown, Pennsylvania, U.S. on May 24, 2016. REUTERS/Matt Rourke/Pool/File Photo

Thomson Reuters

By Kim Palmer

PITTSBURGH (Reuters) - The jury that will decide whether to convict or acquit comedian Bill Cosby at his upcoming sexual assault trial in the Philadelphia area is likely to be chosen on Wednesday, even as the defense says prosecutors are trying to exclude black people from the panel.

A fresh set of about 100 prospective jurors were called on Wednesday in a Pittsburgh courtroom. Eleven of the 12 regular jurors have already been selected, and all but one is white.

Judge Steven O'Neill, who will try to seat the final juror and six alternates on Wednesday, rejected the defense's arguments, saying he would reconsider if lawyers for Cosby, who is black, can provide statistical evidence.

Cosby, 79, is accused of drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand, a former basketball coach at his Temple University alma mater, at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004.

Dozens of other women have come forward in recent years to accuse Cosby of similar sexual abuse, but Constand's allegations are the only ones to result in criminal charges, in part because many of the other claims stretch back decades. O'Neill will allow one other accuser to testify at Cosby's trial.

Cosby, whose reputation as America's favorite TV dad has been irreparably sullied, has denied any wrongdoing and said every sexual encounter was consensual.

O'Neill has questioned potential jurors extensively on issues like how familiar they are with the Cosby scandal and whether they know victims of sexual assault.

Both sides are permitted to strike a certain number of prospective jurors without explanation. But when prosecutors on Tuesday moved to disqualify a black woman, defense lawyers objected, saying the jury, which has one black woman, was not diverse enough to give Cosby a fair trial.

Last week, Cosby suggested in a rare radio interview that he has been treated worse during the scandal because he is black.

Prosecutors said they struck the woman, a former police detective who was once charged with falsifying overtime records, because of her law enforcement background.

Once selected, the jurors will be transported 300 miles (480 km) to Montgomery County near Philadelphia and sequestered during the trial, which begins on June 5.

O'Neill agreed at the request of defense lawyers to pull jurors from Pittsburgh rather than Montgomery County due to the extensive media coverage of the case.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

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