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Topless protester at Bill Cosby retrial identified as actor Nicolle Rochelle who appeared on The Cosby Show

If convicted of sexual assault charges Cosby faces up to 10 years in prison. He denies the allegations

Chris Stevenson
Monday 09 April 2018 15:06 BST
A protester is detained as Bill Cosby arrives for his sexual assault trial at the Montgomery County Courthouse
A protester is detained as Bill Cosby arrives for his sexual assault trial at the Montgomery County Courthouse (Corey Perrine/AP)

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A topless protester with “Women's Lives Matters” written on her body has charged at Bill Cosby as he walked into a Philadelphia courthouse for the start of his retrial over accusations of sexual assault.

The woman jumped over a barricade and launched towards Cosby but was intercepted by sheriff's deputies, who handcuffed her and led her away.

The woman was later identified as actor Nicolle Rochelle, who appeared on several episodes of The Cosby Show, the programme for which Cosby is best known..

Ms Rochelle was charged with disorderly conduct for running in front of Cosby towards a bank of television cameras as he approached the courthouse. Written on her body were the words “Women's Lives Matter".

The new trial comes almost a year after a jury reached deadlock on charges that Cosby drugged and assaulted Andrea Constand, 44, at his home outside Philadelphia in 2004. Judge Steven O'Neill declared a mistrial.

If convicted of the most serious charge of aggravated indecent assault, Cosby, 80, could face up to 10 years in prison.

Ms Constand is one of dozens women who have accused him of sexual assaults, some dating back decades. Cosby has denied all allegations made against him, and said all sexual encounters were consensual.

Many of the names of Cosby's accusers were written across the body of Nicolle Rochelle as part of her morning protest.

The leader of European feminist group Femen, Inna Shevchenko, told The Associated Press that Ms Rochelle was from their organisation and the protest was the group's “contribution to the global revolt launched by #MeToo.”

The retrial starts against the backdrop of that national #MeToo movement. In recent months, a number of women have accused powerful men in Hollywood, politics and business of sexual misconduct and assault. In many of those cases women have ended years of silence to speak out.

As for the retrial, the court is likely to hear much of the same evidence as in the first trial, but each side comes to the second trial with fresh ammunition after a series of pre-trial rulings by the judge.

Judge O'Neill, who is also handling the second trial, granted a prosecution request to allow testimony by five other women who accuse Cosby of sexual assault in order to allege that he was engaged in a pattern of behaviour. At the first trial, he allowed prosecutors to call only one other accuser.

And the judge also granted a defence request to allow testimony from a woman who claims Ms Constand mused aloud about falsely accusing a famous man to get money. The judge barred her at the first trial. Ms Constand's lawyer has claimed the former co-worker of Ms Constand is lying.

Agencies contributed to this report

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