Ennis Cosby

SANTA MONICA, California (CNN) -- Opening statements were under way Monday in the murder trial of Michael Markhasev, 19, accused of fatally shooting comedian Bill Cosby's son, Ennis.

Superior Court Judge David Perez, determined to get a verdict in less than a month, decreed there will be no cameras in his courtroom when testimony begins because he does not want it to become a "TV episode."

"I expect this case to go to the jury by July 10," Perez said last week after a jury of six women and six men was chosen within a day and a half.

Perez has also tried to restrict media coverage of the Cosby case in every way possible, enforcing a gag order on lawyers and trying to seal all documents in the case until an appeals court reversed that decision.

Bill Cosby is not expected at the trial, although a large contingent of his family and friends appeared in the courtroom spectator section Thursday and are likely to be on hand for testimony.

Markhasev

Ennis Cosby, a 27-year-old graduate student at Columbia University, was fatally shot January 16, 1997, while changing a flat tire on a dark road in suburban Los Angeles.

Markhasev, a Ukrainian immigrant with a history of gang affiliations and a previous brush with the law, was arrested nearly two months later.

Police say Markhasev was out looking for drug money with a couple of friends, saw Cosby, then shot him during an attempted robbery. The defense contends that one of the friends, Eli Zakaria, is the real killer.

Correspondent Jim Hill contributed to this report.

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