Bill Cosby’s lawyers have filed a list of 11 alleged trial errors as they try to undo his sexual assault conviction and three- to 10-year prison term.

Bill Cosby’s lawyers have filed a list of 11 alleged trial errors as they try to undo his sexual assault conviction and three- to 10-year prison term.

The lawyers filed a motion on Tuesday saying Pennsylvania trial Judge Steven O’Neill had a feud with a key pre-trial witness, the former county prosecutor who declined to arrest Cosby a decade earlier.

And they say his decisions to let five other accusers give evidence, air some of Cosby’s deposition from the accuser’s lawsuit and dismiss the promise not to charge Cosby are grounds for a new trial.

A jury convicted the 81-year-old Cosby this spring of drugging and molesting a woman in 2004, in the first celebrity trial of the #MeToo era.

The legally blind comedian is housed in a new state prison about 20 miles from his Philadelphia-area estate. </s> PHILADELPHIA — Bill Cosby’s lawyers have filed a list of 11 alleged trial errors as they try to undo his sexual assault conviction and three- to 10-year prison term.

The lawyers filed a motion Tuesday saying Pennsylvania trial Judge Steven O’Neill had a feud with a key pretrial witness, the former county prosecutor who declined to arrest Cosby a decade earlier.

And they say his decisions to let five other accusers testify, air some of Cosby’s deposition from the accuser’s lawsuit and dismiss the promise not to charge Cosby are grounds for a new trial.

A jury convicted the 81-year-old Cosby this spring of drugging and molesting a woman in 2004, in the first celebrity trial of the #MeToo era.

The legally blind comedian is housed in a new state prison about 20 mile (32 kilometres) from his Philadelphia-area estate. </s> PHILADELPHIA -- Bill Cosby's lawyers filed a list of nearly a dozen alleged trial errors Tuesday as they appeal his sexual assault conviction and three- to 10-year prison term. The defense asked to have the 81-year-old disgraced comedian released from a suburban Philadelphia prison while his appeal proceeds, but their pleas have so far been rejected.

Bill Cosby leaves the courtroom in handcuffs after being sentenced to 3 to 10 years in prison for sexual assault, Sept. 25, 2018. KYW-TV

A jury convicted Cosby at a spring retrial of drugging and molesting Temple University employee Andrea Constand in 2004, in what became the first celebrity trial of the #MeToo era.

The lawyers said trial Judge Steven O'Neill had an alleged feud with a pretrial witness, the ex-prosecutor who had declined to charge Cosby a decade earlier. And they said his decisions to preside over the case, let five other accusers testify, air Cosby's prior deposition testimony about quaaludes and dismiss the ex-prosecutor's promise not to charge him are mistakes that warrant a new trial.

"The trial court erred in failing to disclose his bias against District Attorney (Bruce) Castor, and in failing to recuse himself, prior to determining (his) credibility," wrote lawyer Brian Perry of Harrisburg, the latest of more than a dozen lawyers to represent Cosby in the case.

The entertainer, who is legally blind, spends his days in a one-man cell and private day room, in a new state prison about 20 miles from his sprawling estate near Philadelphia, where the crime occurred.

In a deposition in Constand's 2005 civil suit, Cosby called the 2004 encounter consensual and his feelings for her romantic. Constand considered him a mentor with close ties to her boss at Temple, where she worked for the women's basketball team. She was about 30 and Cosby, a Temple trustee, about 66. The key issues raised on appeal Tuesday include:

Testimony from other accusers

Legal experts believe Cosby's best shot on appeal may be the judge's decision, without comment, to hear from five other accusers when he'd allowed just one at Cosby's first trial in 2017, when the jury deadlocked. The law permits "prior bad act" witnesses only in very limited circumstances, usually to show a "signature" crime pattern. In Cosby's case, all five women said they thought they'd been drugged and molested. The defense called their testimony "too remote in time" and "too dissimilar" to Constand's accusation.

Judge's supposed feud with witness

As Cosby's sentencing neared, his wife Camille filed an ethics complaint against O'Neill over his supposed feud with Castor, who had declined to charge Cosby in 2005 and said he'd made a binding "agreement" that Cosby would never be charged. Castor became a key pretrial witness for the defense. But O'Neill found no evidence his decision was binding on his successors.

Damning deposition testimony

The judge allowed prosecutors to use several excerpts from Cosby's damaging deposition in Constand's related 2005 lawsuit, which ended with Cosby paying Constand a $3.4 million settlement. Juror Harrison Snyder later told ABC-TV the deposition - in which Cosby admitted getting Quaaludes to give women before sex - was the key evidence that made him think he was guilty.

"Sexually violent predator" designation

Cosby, once revered as "America's Dad" for playing the beloved Dr. Cliff Huxtable on "The Cosby Show," could spend a decade in prison, given the way O'Neill fashioned his sentence. The three-year minimum appears well within the 1- to 4-year state guidelines. But O'Neill attached an unusual 10-year maximum, which could keep Cosby from getting parole unless he acknowledges his sexual offenses and completes sex-offender therapy.

O'Neill, based in part on expert testimony about other accusers, judged Cosby a "sexually violent predator" and said his wealth and power made it possible he could still reoffend. The label makes Cosby subject to police registration and community alerts should he be released from prison. </s> Follow CBSPHILLY Facebook | Twitter

 

 PHILADELPHIA (CBS/AP) — Bill Cosby‘s lawyers have filed a list of 11 alleged trial errors as they try to undo his sexual assault conviction and three- to 10-year prison term.

According to the motion filed on Tuesday, Pennsylvania trial Judge Steven O’Neill had a feud with a key pretrial witness, the former county prosecutor who declined to arrest Cosby a decade earlier.

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Cosby’s lawyers also say O’Neill’s decisions to let five other accusers testify, air some of Cosby’s deposition from the accuser’s lawsuit and dismiss the promise not to charge Cosby are grounds for a new trial.

Back in October, Cosby’s trial judge rejected his bid for a new trial or sentencing hearing after “an exhausting review” of post-trial motions, prompting Cosby’s wife, Camille, to again accuse O’Neill of bias against her husband.

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Camille Cosby in a statement again insists O’Neill should have stepped down because his wife has advocated for sex assault victims. O’Neill has said that has no bearing on his work.

A jury convicted the 81-year-old Cosby this spring of drugging and molesting a woman in 2004, in the first celebrity trial of the #MeToo era.

The legally blind comedian is housed in a new state prison about 20 mile (32 kilometers) from his Philadelphia-area estate. </s> Bill Cosby has been sentenced to three to 10 years in state prison for drugging and molesting a woman at his suburban Philadelphia home.

Judge Steven O’Neill sentenced Cosby on Tuesday, five months after his conviction in the first celebrity trial of the #MeToo era.

Prosecutors were seeking a sentence of five to 10 years in prison. The defense asked for house arrest.

The 81-year-old comedian did not make a statement in court. Cosby sat back in his chair, his head on the headrest, as the sentence was read.

The entertainer once known as “America’s Dad” was convicted in April of sexually assaulting Temple University athletics administrator Andrea Constand in 2004.

Constand is one of about 60 women who have accused Cosby of sexual misconduct. </s> (Reuters) - Attorneys for Bill Cosby outlined their grounds on Tuesday for appealing his sexual assault conviction, citing what they called errors in legal procedure that may have biased the jury and warrant a new trial for the once-beloved comedian.

The 81-year-old performer, best known for his role as the lovable family man and physician on the hit television sitcom "The Cosby Show," was found guilty by a Pennsylvania jury in April of drugging and sexually assaulting a onetime friend in 2004.

It marked the first such criminal conviction of a celebrity accused of sexual misconduct since the #MeToo movement that has brought down dozens of powerful, privileged men in American media, politics and business since the autumn of 2017.

In September, the trial judge, Steven O'Neill, designated Cosby a "sexually violent predator" under Pennsylvania law, requiring the entertainer to register as a sex offender for life, and sentenced him to a term of three to 10 years in prison.

Cosby, who is married, has insisted all along that any sexual encounters he had were consensual. He was found guilty on three counts of aggravated indecent assault.

In an eight-page filing laying out the basis of their appeal, Cosby's lawyers focused on several instances they said introduced bias into the trial, including the judge's refusal to excuse a juror that the defense argued was unable to be fair and impartial.

The defense asserted that the juror in question had stated an inclination to believe Cosby guilty at the outset of the trial and that fellow jurors were never interviewed to determine whether they had heard the comment or were swayed by it.

In addition, according to the filing, O'Neill failed to recuse himself or disclose a biased relationship with Bruce Castor, a former Montgomery County district attorney with whom defense lawyers said the judge had a confrontation.

Cosby's lawyers have argued that Castor promised in 2005 that Cosby would not be prosecuted if he agreed to sit for a sworn deposition in a civil suit brought against him by his accuser, former Temple University administrator Andrea Constand.

That deposition, in which Cosby acknowledged giving sedatives called Quaaludes to young women for purposes of having sex with them, was unsealed a decade later, and Castor's successor, District Attorney Kevin Steele, cited it as a crucial piece of evidence when criminal charges were brought.

The judge should not have allowed Cosby's civil deposition testimony about Quaaludes to be introduced in his criminal trial, the defense said, arguing it was not relevant to Constand's allegations and was highly prejudicial because it included statements regarding the illegal act of giving a narcotic to another person.

Cosby's attorneys also faulted the judge for allowing prosecutors to call as witnesses other accusers whose allegations, the defense argued, were too remote in time and too dissimilar to Constand's allegations.

Moreover, the defense asserted that a prosecution expert who testified relied on hearsay evidence of about 50 additional women who had leveled sexual misconduct allegations against Cosby.

Under the state's appeals process, the trial judge will write an opinion by explaining his reasoning for the rulings the defense has challenged, and the matter will ultimately be decided by Pennsylvania's appellate-level Superior Court.

A representative for the prosecution did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the filing. </s> Bill Cosby's lawyers detailed nearly a dozen alleged legal errors Tuesday, including the judge's decision to send the case to trial, as they appeal his sexual assault conviction and three- to 10-year prison term.They've also asked the Pennsylvania Supreme Court this month to release the 81-year-old disgraced comedian from a state prison near Philadelphia while the appeal proceeds.The lawyers said trial Judge Steven O'Neill had a feud with a pretrial witness, the ex-prosecutor who had declined to charge Cosby in 2005. And they said his decisions to assign himself the case, let five other accusers testify, air Cosby's prior deposition testimony about quaaludes and dismiss the ex-prosecutor's promise not to charge Cosby are mistakes that warrant a new trial."The trial court erred in failing to disclose his bias against District Attorney (Bruce) Castor, and in failing to recuse himself, prior to determining (his) credibility," wrote lawyer Brian Perry of Harrisburg, the latest of more than a dozen lawyers to represent Cosby in the case.A jury convicted Cosby at a spring retrial of drugging and molesting a Temple University employee in 2004, in what became the first celebrity trial of the #MeToo era. Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele, through a spokeswoman, declined to comment on Tuesday's filing.Cosby - whose estimated fortune from his TV shows, comedy tours and product pitches once topped $400 million - was convicted of drugging and sexually assaulting accuser Andrea Constand. The entertainer, who is legally blind, spends his days in a one-man cell and private day room, in a new state prison about 20 miles from his sprawling estate near Philadelphia, where the crime occurred.In a deposition in Constand's 2005 civil suit, Cosby called the 2004 encounter consensual and his feelings for her romantic. Constand considered him a mentor with close ties to her boss at Temple, where she worked for the women's basketball team. She was about 30 and Cosby, a Temple trustee, about 66. The key issues raised on appeal Tuesday include:------ </s> The guilty verdict in Bill Cosby’s drugging and molesting criminal trial on Thursday means the 80-year-old comedian is facing some serious prison time. Cosby was convicted on all three counts of aggravated indecent assault for drugging defendant Andrea Constand before he sexually assaulted her at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004, according to multiple media reports.

Cosby’s legal team was expected to appeal the verdict in the comedian’s retrial following a hung jury last year. He was not expected to report to prison immediately, but faces 10 years for each of the three counts he was found guilty on. The sentences could run concurrently, but that was expected to be determined at a later date.

READ MORE: Full Coverage Of Bill Cosby’s Retrial For Sexual Assault

Prosecutors asked the judge to remand Cosby to prison and said he was a flight risk, but he remained free on his $1 million bail that he previously paid. After the prosecutor said Cosby could use his private plane to flee, Cosby reportedly stood up in court and called the district attorney an “asshole.”

If he were to be sentenced to the full 30 years, he would most likely die in prison.

Constand’s testimony earlier this month was pivotal, but it was perhaps the accounts by five additional Cosby accusers that proved to be the difference this time around. In the initial trial that ended up in a hung jury, only Constand’s testimony was allowed.

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The Number Of Black Candidates Running For Governor Just Got Smaller </s> NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) -- A judge has sentenced Bill Cosby to three to 10 years in state prison, NBC reports.

Judge Steven O'Neill announced the sentence in court Tuesday afternoon. Prosecutors asked for five to 10 years in prison. The defense wanted house arrest, but District Attorney Kevin Steele says the sentencing rules don't allow it.

A jury convicted Cosby of drugging and molesting a woman at his suburban Philadelphia home. Cosby was convicted after the first celebrity trial of the #MeToo era.

The 81-year-old TV star declined to make a statement at his two-day sentencing hearing. The woman he attacked, Andrea Constand, says she's had to cope with years of pain, anxiety and self-doubt.

The judge ruled that Bill Cosby is a "sexually violent predator."

The classification means that Cosby must undergo lifetime counseling and report quarterly to authorities. His name will appear on a sex-offender registry sent to neighbors, schools and victims.

Judge Steven O'Neill made the decision Tuesday as he prepares to sentence the 81-year-old comedian for drugging and molesting a woman at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004.

Cosby's lawyers had fought the "sexually violent predator" designation, arguing that Pennsylvania's sex-offender law remains unconstitutional despite several revisions. </s> Disgraced US megastar Bill Cosby is due to stand trial for sexual assault on June 5, 2017 in what could see up to 13 other alleged victims testify against the award-winning comedian turned pariah.

Judge Steven O’Neill set the date after the 79-year-old pioneering black comedian made multiple attempts to head off the possibility of a trial stemming from one alleged incident at his Philadelphia home in 2004.

But O’Neill advised lawyers that the trial could start even earlier if schedules permit. He also said that given the defence assertion that Cosby is blind, the defendant may require special assistance in court.

Andrea Constand, who worked for the Temple University basketball team at the time, alleges that Cosby plied her with pills and wine, then sat her down on a couch at his Philadelphia home where he assaulted her.

Cosby says he gave her a pill, but insists their relations with consensual. He faces up to 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine if convicted.

Dressed in a pinstripe jacket and gray pants, Cosby had appeared animated and engaged in conversation with his lawyers before Tuesday’s hearing at Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, northwest of Philadelphia.

But the prospective trial cements a brutal fall from grace for the once treasured father figure and apparent model citizen who smashed through racial barriers and delighted audiences with his gentle, self-deprecating humor.

In recent years, more than 50 women have publicly accused him of being a sexual predator spanning four decades, making remarkably similar allegations that he fed them sedatives and alcohol that made them unable to resist his advances.

The vast majority of the alleged abuses happened too long ago to prosecute, making the Constand case the only criminal charge brought against Cosby.

Montgomery County prosecutor Kevin Steele told the court that he wants up to 13 other alleged victims to testify at trial. The judge has yet to agree and Cosby‘s legal team will likely put up fierce resistance.

The defense vowed their client would continue “the fight for his rights” and accused a lawyer representing other alleged sexual assault victims of waging a campaign built “on racial bias and prejudice.”

“When the media repeats her accusations — with no evidence, no trial and no jury — we are moved backwards as a country and away from the America that our civil rights leaders sacrificed so much to create,” they said.

Those allegations have seen celebrity pals and millions more malign the legend who attained his greatest fame for his role as a lovable obstetrician and family man in the hit 1980s television sitcom “The Cosby Show.”

The Constand case was initially settled by a civil suit in 2006 but prosecutors reopened claiming that new evidence had come to light.

The former star posted bail at $1 million in the case last December, but has yet to enter a plea.

If he pleads guilty, Cosby could avoid the enormous publicity that will come with one of America’s most famous entertainers going on trial.

In her original deposition in January 2005, Constand said Cosby plied her with pills and wine, then sat her down on a couch, where the actor allegedly fondled her breasts, put his fingers in her vagina and put her hand on his erect penis.

Cosby‘s legal team mock Constand’s credibility, saying she chopped and changed her evidence, and omitted from the final version lying down on a bed next to the actor and later visiting his home for dinner.

Constand, who now lives in Canada, has yet to appear at any public hearing.

Cosby‘s most famous role was as Cliff Huxtable, the affable father of an upper middle class black family in New York, in “The Cosby Show” from 1984 to 1992.

It was one of the most popular TV series of all time and jettisoned the actor into a life of fame and millions, following a humble childhood during which he was raised by a maid and a US Navy cook.

Cosby served in the Navy himself and won an athletic scholarship to Temple, before moving into comedy. In addition to television, he wrote books and appeared in movies.

His wife Camille has stood by his side. The couple have five children. Their son Ennis was shot dead in 1997 while changing a flat tire in California.
The lawyers of Bill Cosby file a list of nearly a dozen alleged trial errors as they appeal his sexual assault conviction and three-to-10-year prison term.