What effect will Cosby trial have on legal or celebrity world?

Even so, today's 24/7 news cycle, plus social media, provide myriad opportunities for people to follow, probably compulsively, what happens in suburban Philadelphia when Cosby faces a jury on three charges of aggravated indecent assault.

The implications for the criminal justice system and popular culture could be far-reaching, as they were in the Simpson case.

Already, as a direct result of the Cosby case, lawmakers in some states are pushing to extend statutes of limitation on sexual assault so that accusers can pursue criminal charges even if alleged crimes happened decades before.

No matter the lack of camera lights, a Cosby trial will be "huge," says Howard Bragman, founder of Fifteen Minutes PR and veteran Hollywood publicist.

"It's going to be the newest reality show," Bragman predicts. Even without the media in the courtroom? "They will use every trick they can — remember when (some media) reenacted the O.J. Simpson civil trial transcripts (in 1996)?  That may happen again."

When it comes to pop culture, the Cosby case has already had impact — on Cosby, says Robert Thompson, historian and head of Syracuse University's Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture.

"Cosby went from being the beloved king at the top of the heap of American pop culture to someone whose reputation has been completely decimated," Thompson says. "I don’t know how much more could happen as a result of the trial.

"Even if he's acquitted, which is a possibility, it's not as though that will mean contracts (for him) will start rolling in again," he added. "I'm just not sure how much acquittal will rescue his legacy."

Andrea Constand in December 2015 in Toronto. (Photo: Marta Iwanek, The Canadian Press, AP)

On Tuesday, a judge in Montgomery County, Pa., ruled at a preliminary hearing there's enough evidence to try Cosby, 78, in connection with a 2004 encounter with a former Temple University employee at his home in Montgomery County.

Cosby contends the encounter was consensual; accuser Andrea Constand, 43, says she was drugged and molested without her consent.

Judge Elizabeth McHugh said the trial could start July 20 with a formal arraignment, but Cosby waived his right to that, so the proceeding could start sometime after

But maybe not right away: Both sides can be expected to joust with multiple motions about what evidence can be admitted at trial, and this could take time. Some legal experts told the Associated Press it could be a year or more before Cosby goes to trial.

Still, a trial is virtually certain, despite Cosby's ongoing efforts to get the charges dismissed based on an unwritten immunity deal he got from a former district attorney in 2005. His latest appeal on this issue is pending before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

(Bragman suggested one legal result of the Cosby case is that defendants will be sure to get immunity deals in writing.)

Stuart Slotnick, a New York defense attorney and former prosecutor who has been following the Cosby case, says if the state Supreme Court wanted to intervene on this, now would have been the time.

"The Supreme Court will not review this legal issue unless and until Cosby is convicted and appeals post-conviction," Slotnick says. "They will sit on the sidelines ... and if Cosby is convicted, he will be back to knock on their door to say now is the time for you to decide this very important issue of law."

It may be that the only way Cosby can avoid a trial is if he dies (or his accuser dies) before it or during it.

"If he were to pass away before his conviction is final, it will not count as a conviction in most jurisdictions," says James Cohen, a criminal law professor and trial procedure expert at Fordham Law School. "And therefore, whatever small chance his reputation has of surviving it would not be further diminished by a felony conviction.”

Among other issues to be decided before the trial, Cosby is likely to argue that his deposition in a 10-year-old civil suit by Constand — in which he acknowledged obtaining drugs to give to women he sought for sex — should not be admitted. He also can be expected to argue against introducing testimony from some of the other nearly 60 accusers who have said he drugged and/or raped them in episodes dating back the mid-1960s.

District Attorney Kevin Steele, for his part, will not want the jury to hear Cosby claim he is a victim of a "political witch hunt," since Steele won election in November in part by promising to pursue Cosby on criminal charges. In December, just days before the statute of limitations ran out, he filed the charges.

Could there be a change of venue because of pre-trial publicity? Unlikely, because there's virtually no place in America Cosby could go where his formerly sterling reputation remains intact and potential jurors have not heard that he's been accused of being a serial rapist.

Once the trial proceeds, there are three possible outcomes, Slotnick says.

He could be acquitted — found not guilty, as Michael Jackson was in 2005 on charges of child molestation. Thompson thinks prosecutors in the Cosby case will have a "tougher" time than prosecutors in the Simpson case — and Simpson was acquitted.

Cosby has a "very good chance" of getting off, Slotnick says.

"If the jurors follow their oath (they can) convict only if they believe he's guilty beyond a reasonable doubt," he says. "That's a high standard to meet, based on the evidence and testimony they have from the complainant. There may be inconsistencies, explanations that are not credible, or no explanations for questions that arise. Jurors might say we can’t accept this complainant’s account of what happened."

He could be convicted on some or all of the charges.

"Or there could be a mistrial because of potential misconduct by either a juror or one of the legal teams," Slotnick says. "Or because at the end of the case the jurors can’t unanimously reach a verdict."

One thing is clear: Constand will have to testify in person. At the preliminary hearing, she did not testify; instead, prosecutors submitted her 2005 statement to police about what she says Cosby did to her, and the judge deemed that enough evidence to proceed to trial.

That won't apply at trial, and Steele has said Constand will testify.

"It's called the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution," Slotnick says. "He has a constitutional right — it's a  mandate that the complainant must appear in court so the accused can confront the accuser, who is subject to cross-examination."

Contributing: Brittany Horn, The News Journal

Article from USA Today