News Corp Australia NetworkOCTOBER 8, 20189:37AM
Bill Cosby lawyers launch appeal to overturn his conviction based on string of alleged errors
BILL Cosby’s lawyers have asked a US court to overturn the actor’s conviction and his three-to-10-year prison sentence because of what they call a string of errors in his sex assault case.
Staff writers, AP
BILL Cosby’s lawyers have asked a Pennsylvania court to overturn the actor’s conviction and his three-to-10-year prison sentence because of what they call a string of errors in his sex assault case.
The defence motion argued that trial Judge Steven O’Neill erred in declaring Cosby a sexually violent predator who must be imprisoned to protect the community.
Lawyers called the sentence more punitive than necessary, given the standard two-to-three-year guideline range for the crime, and the fact Cosby is 81 and blind.
They also said the trial evidence never proved the encounter with accuser Andrea Constand took place in 2004, and not 2003, or that Cosby was arrested within the 12-year time limit.
Cosby was arrested on December 30, 2015, and was convicted at a second trial this April.
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The defence motion said O’Neill improperly considered the trial testimony of five other accusers in sentencing Cosby, instead of limiting that “prior bad act” testimony to the question of his guilt or innocence.
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The defence motion, dated on Friday, was posted to a public court docket in the case over the weekend. Kate Delano, a spokeswoman for the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office, said the office will file a response. The motion was filed by lawyer Peter Goldberger, a top appellate lawyer in the region, and Joseph P Green Jr, who handled Cosby’s sentencing after more than a dozen other lawyers on the case had come and gone.
