Bill Cosby: How will race play out in his trial?
The comedian and his lawyers brought up race even before the trial started.
— -- Bill Cosby goes on trial Monday in a sexual assault case that he and his attorneys have said may have racial undertones, but just how race will play out in his trial remains to be seen.
Cosby's lawyers raised the specter of race during jury selection last week when they complained that the prosecution was trying to keep black people from serving on the jury.
The week before, the 79-year-old comedian in a rare interview suggested that racism may be partly responsible for the dozens of sexual misconduct allegations that have been lodged against him.
But Dan Abrams, chief legal correspondent for ABC News, thinks that bringing race into the trial would be going down a "dangerous road" for Cosby and his team.
"Race shouldn't play a role in this case," he told ABC News. "It's very different to raise the issue in jury selection than in the case itself. I think he will have a hard time making an admissible argument to call a witness to say this has something to do with race."
The "Cosby Show" star faces three counts of felony aggravated indecent assault stemming from an alleged encounter with accuser Andrea Constand in 2004. He has pleaded not guilty.
Cosby and his legal team have always maintained his encounter with Constand was consensual and that the only drug he gave her was Benadryl.
His attorney first brought up race when two black women were rejected during jury selection last week. The judge ruled that prosecutors had other valid reasons for excluding the women.
Out of a pool of 100 potential jurors, 10 were black. Two black jurors were chosen -- one man and one woman. The other 10 jurors -- six men and four women -- are white.
According to The Associated Press, that makes the jury roughly 17 percent black, whereas in Allegheny County, from which the jury came, the black population is just 13 percent of the total, according to Suburban Stats.
"It's a terrific jury made up of people of all demographics," Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said. "We're past this nonsense about the optics and things."
Abrams believes it's a mistake for Cosby's team to only focus on the number of black people on the jury when gender could well be more of a factor. Plus, he added, "It's very insulting to jurors who haven't even heard the evidence to suggest that they can't be fair because of race."
Even before his lawyers, Cosby brought up the issue of race outside of the courtroom.
Asked by Sirius XM radio host Michael Smerconish to comment on his daughter Ensa's statement that "racism has played a big role in all aspects of this scandal," Cosby said, "Could be. Could be. I can't say anything, but there are certain things that I look at, and I apply to the situation, and there are so many tentacles. So many different -- 'nefarious' is a great word. I just truly believe that some of it may very well be that."
In addition to Constand, dozens of women have accused Cosby of sexual misconduct and/or drugging; one will be permitted to testify during the trial. He has denied all allegations of wrongdoing.
After Cosby's comments went viral, many accused the legendary comedian of playing the "race card." Some have mocked his comments as being hypocritical after past statements he made urging blacks to stop blaming racism for their plight, including his now-famous "Poundcake Speech" from 2004, in which he lashed out at lashed out at single mothers and men with low-slung pants, among other things.
Social activist April Reign, the creator of the viral hashtag #OscarsSoWhite, called it a "shameless ploy."
"Now that he’s on the trial of his life, all of a sudden he or his daughters as his surrogate want to say this is a public lynching," Reign pointed out.
O.J. Simpson, Reign pointed out, took a similar tack in his trial for the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. And like Simpson, Cosby distanced himself from race after achieving a certain level of status, Reign said, only to return to it when it became convenient to call himself a victim of racism.
Still, there are some on social media who believe race is a factor in Cosby's scandal.
"I think there are some who believe this is a massive conspiracy to keep Cosby down by the white man or something silly," Reign said, "and then there are those who see it the way I do -- that Cosby is desperate."
"There are cases every day where race will inevitably be an issue," Abrams said. "There is no reason that race ought to be an issue in this case."