Bill Cosby's Lawyers Are Trying to Appeal His Conviction

On December 12 Bill Cosby’s lawyers filed a list of what they believe are a dozen errors that occurred during his trial in an attempt to appeal his conviction.

The Associated Press reports that Cosby’s lawyers claim that trial judge Steven O’Neill had a feud with a pretrial witness and that decisions he made during the case, including letting five other accusers testify, allowing a prior deposition testimony from Cosby about quaaludes to be heard, and other decisions are mistakes which require a brand new trial.

Previously, Camille Cosby filed an ethics complaint against O’Neill, accusing him of holding a bias against pretrial witness Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor. The “feud” between them, Cosby’s lawyers argue, stems back to the 1990s when both men were up for the county prosecutor’s job and O’Neill allegedly dated a woman in Castor’s office. Cosby’s lawyers had also previously asked O’Neill to step down because his wife is an advocate for sex abuse victims. Ultimately, the complaint didn’t stop Cosby’s sentencing.

Cosby was sentenced to three to 10 years in prison in September for drugging and sexually assaulting former Temple University employee Andrea Constand in 2004. His lawyers are also asking that Cosby is released from the Philadelphia prison where he currently resides while the appeal proceeds, but that request has been rejected.