Cosby wants jury pool prescreened for bias before trial

Bill Cosby’s lawyers hope to prescreen potential jurors to weed out those with opinions about the sex-assault case before jury selection begins in person. (Photo: Bill Cosby/Facebook)

PHILADELPHIA—Bill Cosby’s lawyers hope to prescreen potential jurors to weed out those with opinions about the sex-assault case before jury selection begins in person.

A defence motion filed Monday says the “inflammatory” worldwide coverage of the case has probably left some potential jurors with opinions about the actor’s guilt or innocence.

They say pretrial questionnaires have been used before in celebrity trials.

The 79-year-old Cosby is charged with drugging and molesting a young woman at his house in 2004. Cosby calls the sex acts consensual.

He is set to go on trial June 5 near Philadelphia. The jurors will be chosen from the Pittsburgh area because of pretrial publicity and sequestered about 300 miles near the Montgomery County courthouse.

Cosby’s lawyers want to send pretrial questionnaires to 1,500 to 2,000 potential jurors.