Cosby judge shoots down comedian's motion for new trial and reduced sentence

Associated Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Cosby jailed: Appeal looming, lawsuits pending Bill Cosby's legal team is readying a long-shot bid to get his sexual assault conviction overturned. They're also fighting civil lawsuits filed by some accusers that threaten to drain his vast fortune. (Sept. 27)

NORRISTOWN, Pa. – Bill Cosby’s trial judge is rejecting the actor’s bid for a new trial or sentencing hearing and directing him to file any appeals with the state Superior Court.

Cosby is serving a three- to 10-year state prison term after a jury earlier this year convicted him of drugging and molesting a woman at his home in 2004.

Montgomery County Judge Steven O’Neill says he did an “exhaustive review” of Cosby’s post-trial motion outlining alleged trial errors as well as the response from prosecutors. O’Neill did not attach an opinion to the order filed Tuesday.

Cosby’s lawyers call the sentence unnecessarily harsh and say the time limit to file charges may have run before Cosby was arrested in 2015.

The 81-year-old actor is serving time at a state prison near Philadelphia.

His wife of more than 50 years, Camille Cosby, who is leading the effort to remove O'Neill from the case by depicting him as biased and unethical, issued a statement after the ruling saying it further showed the "bias" the judge allegedly has towards Cosby.

Cosby's explanation for why he wants a new judge, a new trial and release on bail in the meantime involves a convoluted retelling of a decades-old political rivalry involving O'Neill and former District Attorney Bruce Castor, who declined to press charges against Cosby back in 2005 for lack of evidence.

Cosby's defense team on Tuesday filed a petition with the state appellate court seeking another review of Cosby's trial and sentence, attaching an affidavit from Castor in which the former district attorney declared that Cosby did not get a fair trial because of O'Neill's alleged animosity towards Castor, who testified for the defense.

"I believe that what happened to William Cosby should never happen to any American citizen in any American courtroom," Castor said in the affidavit.

Camille Cosby said that Castor’s affidavit lays bare the "unethical" behavior of O'Neill and its effect on the two Cosby trials.

"...The world will now know the truth," her statement said. "I (offer the affidavit) with the abiding belief that the truth is more powerful than a corrupt judge and that my husband will once again be free."