Bill Cosby goes on trial in landmark sexual assault case

Comedian Bill Cosby, 79, goes on trial Monday in  a sexual assault case that will define his legacy. It comes more than 10 years after he invited a college basketball manager to his home to discuss her career. Cosby’s image as a father and family man, on screen and off, helped fuel his extraordinary 50-year […]

Comedian Bill Cosby, 79, goes on trial Monday in  a sexual assault case that will define his legacy.

It comes more than 10 years after he invited a college basketball manager to his home to discuss her career.

Cosby’s image as a father and family man, on screen and off, helped fuel his extraordinary 50-year career in entertainment.

He created TV characters, most notably Dr. Cliff Huxtable, with crossover appeal among blacks and whites, young and old, rich and poor.

His TV shows, films and comedy tours earned him an estimated $400 million.

But a deposition unsealed in 2015 revealed an unsavory private life marked by a long history of sexual liaisons with young women. Dozens came forward to say he had drugged and assaulted them.

The trial involves just one of those complaints, that of the former Temple University basketball staffer.

Andrea Constand, 44, of the Toronto area, will take the stand in suburban Philadelphia this week and tell her story in public for the first time.

Montgomery County Judge Steven T. O’Neill hopes to keep the media frenzy from influencing the case as it did at O.J. Simpson’s murder trial. The cameras that dominated Simpson’s trial aren’t allowed in Pennsylvania courtrooms, but scores of photographers will be lined up outside the courthouse. Like the Simpson case, the jury will be sequestered.