Montgomery County Judge Steven O’Neill has for the first time publicly identified members of the jury that convicted comedian Bill Cosby of aggravated indecent assault last month.
O’Neill, who had said he wanted a cooling-off period before releasing the names, said he was bound to release the identities because of the state Supreme Court’s ruling that said they’re public under the First Amendment.
O’Neill warned the media that they should respect jurors who refuse interviews or want privacy. He told jurors not to divulge what other members of the jury said during deliberations.
In a statement, the jury said it had “absolutely no reservations” about convicting Cosby on charges that he drugged and sexually assaulted a woman at his suburban Philadelphia home in January 2004.
Prosecutors wanted the jurors’ names kept secret.
Cosby is confined to his home awaiting sentencing Sept. 24. The comedian, who will turn 81 this summer, faces up to 30 years in prison.
His attorneys have said they plan to appeal the conviction, which stemmed from an incident between Cosby and former Temple University Employee Andrea Constand more than 14 years ago.
Although prosecutors argued that the incident — which Cosby has maintained was consensual contact between he and Constand — occurred sometime in January 2004, testimony, travel and expense records placed into evidence by both sides appeared to suggest it occurred in 2003.
That’s important because had the incident occurred in 2003, the case should have been tossed out because Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations would have expired.
O’Neill decided to allow the jury to determine whether the defense proved that the statute of limitations had expired — although many legal experts said that’s a call that’s almost always made by the judge.
Cosby has been ordered to remain in his Elkins Park, Pennsylvania home on house arrest since the verdicts and he’s been outfitted with a court-ordered GPS monitoring system to track his movements.
He’s only allowed to visit his local lawyer’s office or go to any doctor’s appointment. Even those must be cleared by the court.
Cosby’s attorneys had asked that the judge delay sentencing until the end of the year.
In Pennsylvania, defendants are typically sentenced within 90 days of a conviction.
O’Neill initially said he would schedule Cosby’s sentencing for July, but a court order issued earlier this month did not detail why the judge changed his mind.
The names of the 12 jurors are:
Quaison Bates
Donna Bauer
Gwen Brokenborough
Cheryl Carmel
Shawn Elijah
Thomas Gieringer
Brian Ko
Nicholas Lynch
Kenneth Matthews
Theresa Olivieri
Joseph O’Neill
Kim Price-Ford
Dianne Scelza
Stephanie Shaffer
Harrison Snyder
Michael Tuzzi
William Walsh
Ryan Watts
