As trial opens, Cosby shares spotlight with a familiar face

The headliner was a comedian, superstar, and in a new role, criminal defendant Bill Cosby. But a different star stole the spotlight Monday at the start of the sexual-assault trial against the Hollywood legend in in Norristown: The woman who once played his saucy little TV daughter.

Scores of journalists trained their lenses on actress Keshia Knight Pulliam Monday morning as she stepped out of a black SUV under grey skies. Wearing a bright fuchsia scarf over black polka dots, the now-grown-woman strode to another SUV and greeted the man who once played hers and America's Dad.

Neither Cosby's wife, Camille, nor his daughters accompanied him. So the 79-year-old actor and the 38-year-old Knight Pulliam — once known to TV viewers as Cliff and Rudy Huxtable — shared a laugh, then walked into Montgomery County Courthouse. As they did, they passed hordes of journalists whose numbers were unmatched by the relative apathy of passersby and citizens who stumbled upon the scene.

One after another, ordinary folks said they had no idea Cosby was in town — until they ran into the spectacle at court.

"If people are buzzing about it, I'm out of the loop," said Alex Morrison, a restaurant manager from Narberth, as he stomped out a cigarette in front of the courthouse while on break from jury selection in another case.  "I live in a bubble of unfortunate Philadelphia sports and my job."

TV trucks began lining Swede Street early in the morning. The courtroom itself was packed by the time Cosby hobbled in. Judge Steven T. O'Neill urged spectators and the press not to interfere with the jurors, all from the Pittsburgh area, and sequestered until the trial ends.

"Please," the judge said. "Let them do their job. They're 300  miles away from home … I understand the rights of a free press and access, but not now. Let this trial play out."

Until she left the courthouse at lunchtime, Knight Pulliam spent as much time as possible by Cosby's side. Every time there was a break from opening arguments, Cosby's publicist escorted her from a seat in the gallery to the actor's side, placing the duo in view of photographers.

Knight Pulliam said she was driven to attend by a sense of familial integrity and friendship.

"This is where you hear the facts," she told reporters on the courthouse steps after opening arguments. "This is where the truth happens."

She said she was praying for everyone touched by the case. "I will accept whatever verdict is handed down," Knight Pulliam said.

The people who stopped momentarily to take in the scene, or who ambled by with little more than a nod of the head seemed torn by the case fundamentals: Whether Cosby sexually assaulted former Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his Cheltenham Township mansion in 2004. Some worried he was guilty; others wondered if he was groundlessly charged.

"This is such a huge case in Montgomery County," said Melanie Wender, a family law attorney from Glenside, just minutes from Cosby's home. "Everybody, no matter what age you were, watched The Cosby Show."

Moments later, an 80-year-old woman walked by the spot where Wender had been standing. But instead of watching with wide eyes, she shook her head disapprovingly. Lucy Payno questioned the merits of Constand's claims, zeroing in on an element of the case likely to get a full hearing: the fact that Constand waited a year before reporting the alleged assault.

The Chestnut Hill woman also wondered about the wisdom of prosecuting Cosby at his age.

"Let it go. Let it go," she said as she walked gingerly past the media throng with downcast eyes facing the pavement. "He's old and half-blind."

Upstairs on the courthouse fifth floor, whispers of the name "Cosby" could be heard in a waiting area outside the family court wing.

"I'm kind of nervous for him," said Sharia Maldonado, of Willow Grove, as she cradled her four-week-old daughter. "I just hope that everything works out the way it's supposed to. That whatever the truth is, the truth is found."

Knight Pulliam expressed a similar hope. Her reason for making a very public show of support, she said, was personal.

"I just said, I'm going to handle this the way I would want to be treated," she said. "I want to be the person that I would like to have if the tables were turned."

Keep up with every development in Bill Cosby's case with our day-by-day recaps and explainer on everything you need to know about the case and its major players.

Staff writer Jeremy Roebuck contributed to this report.