It Cost Montgomery County $219K To Prosecute Bill Cosby

NORRISTOWN, PA — It cost Montgomery County $219,311.21 to prosecute Bill Cosby in his retrial, almost exactly as much as it cost to try him the first time, according to statistics released by the county on Thursday.

The expenses chiefly came from the massive amount of security required for such a high profile case, and the cost of housing and feeding the jurors while keeping them out of the public eye.

A breakdown of expenses included $79,803 paid in overtime to Montgomery County Sheriff's Deputies and security. Much of that overtime was spent keeping the jurors safe, and securing the courthouse during the tumultuous proceedings. In addition to the massive national media attention drawn by the trial, there were also numerous protesters and other attendees, and not all of them were exactly peaceful.

Meanwhile, $58,365 was spent on putting up jurors in hotels, while $21,000 was spent on providing them food, authorities said.

The guilty verdict, handed down on April 26, brought to a close decades of speculation amid accusations from dozens of women in a case that has toppled a man who was once a figurehead of comedy and considered "America's father." It also marked the first conviction of a powerful male figure accused of sexual assault following a year that brought reckoning to numerous men across politics, media, and entertainment.

When the figures for the 2017 Cosby trial were released last year, Montgomery County officials said that the budget had allotted funding specifically for overtime and trials, and that's how they afforded the $219,000 then. It's not clear yet if the cost of the retrial will be taken on the same way.

The sentencing hearing for Cosby, 80, will be held on Monday and Tuesday, Sept. 24 and Sept. 25, at 9:30 a.m. The former comedian faces up to ten years in prison on each of three counts of aggravated indecent assault.

Cosby has been on house arrest since his verdict and has been told not to leave his home.

See more coverage on the Cosby case here.

>>Celebrities, Leaders React To Bill Cosby's Guilty Verdict

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