Actress protests topless at Bill Cosby’s sexual assault retrial

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On Monday Morning, a topless woman protesting outside of Bill Cosby‘s trial jumped over the barricade and rushed the disgraced comedian.

The woman, later identified as Nicolle Rochelle, had the names of Cosby’s accusers written across her body as well as phrases like “Women’s Lives Matter,” “Cosby rapist,” and “semen.”

As Rochelle jumped over the barricade and onto a walkway, Cosby was being led towards the court by his spokesperson Andrew Wyatt. Rochelle ended up in bushes as she and officers engaged with each other. Rochelle was placed in handcuffs before being led away from the scene. Wyatt got into an animated conversation with a sheriff’s deputy.

In a twist to the story, Rochelle has ties to Cosby beyond her protest at the trial. she appeared as a child actress on the Cosby Show. She played Danielle, a friend of Rudy Huxtable, who was played by Keshia Knight Pulliam. Rochelle appeared in four episodes of the show.

As for Pulliam, although she made it a point to stand by Cosby during his first trial, when the opening statements began on Monday, she was not present.

-Keshia Knight Pulliam dishes on Trump-Cosby debate with Omarosa-

A retrial

Cosby is facing a retrial after his original trial ended in a hung jury. He was accused of drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand.

Since that time, the #MeToo movement has taken over the national conversation, and the court has reportedly struggled to find jurors who haven’t already made up their minds about the case that has received such national attention.

In addition, Constand will be joined by more women.  Janice Baker-Kinney, Janice Dickinson, Chelan lasha, Lisa-Lotte Lublin and Heidi Thomas will all be involved in the retrial. The prosecution wanted to bring 13 more women as well, to show a pattern of behavior with Cosby, but were unable to do so.