PHILADELPHIA (AP) – At his only criminal court appearance to date, aging TV icon Bill Cosby stumbled past a scrum of photographers while two lawyers held him up on either side, walking him into a suburban Philadelphia courtroom.
The attorneys hired to defend Cosby in the sex-assault case are a study in contrasts:
– Outsider Monique Pressley, a lawyer-turned-TV legal analyst with side jobs as a pastor, motivational speaker and radio host, who got a taste of the limelight as a law student, posing a question about race in the O.J. Simpson trial on CNN’s Larry King Live.
– Insider Brian McMonagle, a revered local criminal lawyer whose past clients include mobsters, rappers, athletes and – in a case with some parallels to Cosby’s – the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Philadelphia during the searing priest-pedophile scandal.
“He takes a very, very aggressive posture, but does it in a diplomatic and smooth fashion. It’s almost like an iron fist in a velvet glove. He is a strong advocate for his client, but can break tension with a quip or a joke,” said fellow Philadelphia criminal lawyer William J. Brennan. “Mr. Cosby is lucky to have him.”