Bill Cosby Files Motion Trying To Get Out Of Prison, Wants Judge Removed
It has been less than two weeks since actor Bill Cosby was sentenced to serve three to 10 years in jail and his lawyers are already hard at work trying to get him out. In fact, Cosby’s lawyers want the judge thrown out, the conviction overturned, and the actor released from prison.
The actor’s attorneys filed a motion on Friday noting the request to overturn Cosby’s conviction was because of errors made during the case and trial.
“The defendant, William H. Cosby, Jr., moves this Court for a new trial in the interest of justice, or at least for reconsideration and modification of the sentence imposed on September 25, 2018,” the motion to overturn read, according to Deadline.
Cosby’s defense motion argued Judge Steven O’Neill made an error in the decision to imprison the actor to “protect the community.” The legal team noted the sentence was more punitive than it needed to be given the fact that Cosby is 81-years-old and is legally blind.
As those who followed his trial know, he was sentenced to three to 10 years behind bars at a state prison for drugging and molesting a woman named Andrea Constand over a decade ago. Cosby’s legal team also argues the trial evidence never proved the crime occurred in 2004.
It was December 30, 2015, when the 81-year-old actor was originally arrested for this crime. He did not receive a conviction until his second trial in April of this year. Cosby has been inside of a state prison located near Philadelphia since his sentence on September 25. This was when the judge refused to grant him a $1 million bail or any form of house arrest.
#BillCosby wants out of prison, new judge & new trial for 2004 rape case …but we've heard a lot of this before https://t.co/vPUeghc8qS
— Dominic Patten (@DeadlineDominic) October 7, 2018
Judge O’Neill ruled that given Cosby’s fame, wealth, and use of drugs, he believed the actor could remain a threat to other women if he was allowed to return to society. Now, Cosby’s lawyers are arguing the ruling wasn’t fair or just.
“For the reasons detailed in Mr. Cosby’s previously-filed motions for recusal (which are incorporated here by reference, without being repeated and set forth at length), and for all the foregoing reasons, a reasonable observer could question the impartiality of the judge who imposed the September 25, 2018, sentence. Accordingly, Judge O’Neill should have recused himself from imposing sentence,” Cosby’s legal team’s motion read.
According to Deadline, Cosby’s legal team is not the only one coming to his side to get him out of jail. Camille Cosby, who he has been married to for more than five decades, is pushing to have the judge on her husband’s case investigated for “misconduct” during the trials.
Bill Cosby lawyers ask court to void conviction, prison sentence https://t.co/xuxsneQa0Y pic.twitter.com/gqVWEP2OZ6
— billboard (@billboard) October 7, 2018
Once news broke, dozens of woman came forward claiming Cosby also drugged and assaulted them in a similar manner as Constand. The key difference between Constand and the other women is Cosby paid the woman a confidential settlement that amounted to millions of dollars roughly a decade before the sexual assault criminal case against him was opened.
The DA’s office is expected to file a response to the motion to drop the judge and throw out the conviction in the next few days.
