Bill Cosby arrives for sexual assault trial with former co-star

Bill Cosby arrived at a Norristown, Pennsylvania, court this morning for the start of his sexual assault trial, which stems from a decade-old claim from accuser Andrea Constand.

Cosby walked arm-in-arm with his legal team and former “Cosby Show” co-star Keshia Knight Pulliam, flashing a grin as he entered the building. Knight Pulliam, 38, played Cosby’s daughter Rudy Huxtable on the hit show.

A request for comment from Knight Pulliam’s rep was not immediately returned to ABC News.

In 2015, Cosby was charged with felony aggravated indecent assault shortly before the statute of limitations on Constand’s claim expired.

According to court documents, Constand told police in 2005 that the year before, the comedian drugged her and molested her at his home in Pennsylvania; Cosby has said that he gave Constand a Benadryl and that their sexual encounter was consensual.

He has pleaded not guilty.

This is the first time that Cosby, 79, has been charged with a crime, though in recent years, he has been accused by more than 50 women of drugging and/or sexual misconduct. The prosecution petitioned to have several accusers testify on Constand’s behalf, but the judge presiding over the case would only allow one to take the stand. That woman, identified as Victim No. 6, has claimed in court documents that she met Cosby in 1990 when she was working as an assistant to his personal appearance agent. Victim No. 6 claims that six years later, when she was 29 and he was 58, Cosby invited her to lunch at a Los Angeles hotel, where he gave her a pill with wine to relax. Afterward, she claims she lost consciousness, only to awake to find him sexually assaulting her in a bed. Through his representatives, Cosby has repeatedly denied all allegations of wrongdoing.

Cosby has not spoken at length about the Constand case, though last month, he told Sirius XM radio host Michael Smerconish that he did not expect to testify during the trial. He also said that race may have played a role in the accusations made against him.

“I can’t say anything, but there are certain things that I look at, and I apply to the situation, and there are so many tentacles,” he said. “So many different — ‘nefarious’ is a great word. I just truly believe that some of it may very well be that.”

Cosby’s attorneys also broached the subject of race with regard to jury selection. The defense successfully petitioned to have potential jurors chosen from Allegheny County, rather than Montgomery County, in the name of diversity. They also believed that Cosby would have a better chance at a fair trial if the jury came from outside Montgomery County.

Ultimately, seven men and five women — two of whom are black — were selected to serve on the jury. The Associated Press noted that the jury is 17 percent black, whereas in Allegheny County, the black community is just 13 percent of the total population.

The defense complained during proceedings that the prosecution was trying to keep black people from the jury after attorneys nixed two black women from serving. However, the judge ruled that there were other, valid reasons to reject them.

“It’s a terrific jury made up of people of all demographics,” Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said outside the courthouse after jury selection concluded. “We’re past this nonsense about the optics and things.”

Cosby’s attorney, Brian McMonagle, did not speak to reporters at that time.

If Cosby is convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine.