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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Cosby wants jury pool prescreened for bias before trial

Bill Cosby arrives for a pretrial hearing in his sexual assault case at the Montgomery County Courthouse, Monday, Feb. 27, 2017, in Norristown, Pa. (Matt Slocum / Associated Press)
Associated Press

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 earnest.

A defense motion filed Monday says the “inflammatory” worldwide coverage of the case makes it likely that some potential jurors have opinions about the actor’s guilt or innocence.

The 79-year-old Cosby is charged with drugging and molesting a young woman who went to his house to discuss a career change in 2004. Cosby calls the sex acts that followed consensual.

He is set to go on trial June 5 in suburban Philadelphia. The jurors will be chosen from the Pittsburgh area because of pretrial publicity.

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

The judge has ruled that one other accuser can testify.