Bill Cosby wants trial to be moved due to “widespread negative press coverage”

NORRISTOWN, PA (AP) – Bill Cosby wants to move his trial out of a suburban Philadelphia courthouse, arguing there’s been widespread negative press coverage of the sexual assault case.

Lawyers for the 79-year-old comedian filed a motion Friday that asked the judge to either move it out of Montgomery County or bring in a jury from elsewhere.

His lawyers say Cosby has been the target of an “inflammatory and prejudicial smear campaign” and branded as a monster, a sociopath and a sexual predator in news accounts.

A spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office says prosecutors aren’t opposed to the request.

Cosby is accused of drugging and molesting a woman he knew through Temple University.

The trial is set for early June.