Bill Cosby’s Trial Judge Steven O’Neill Rejects Bid For New Trial & Sentencing Hearing

Billy Cosby’s trial judge has rejected the actor’s bid for a new trial or sentencing hearing and has directed him to file any appeals with the state Superior Court.

Cosby is serving a three to ten-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 has held that he did an “exhaustive review” of Cosby’s post-trial motion outlining alleged trial errors and the response from prosecutors. 

The 81-year-old actor is now serving time at a state prison near Philadelphia and his lawyers are calling the sentence unnecessarily harsh.

Cosby’s lawyer, Joseph P. Green asked for a new trial because he claimed that the court had not proved that Cosby’s convicted assault of Andrea Constand had taken place within the 12-year statute of limitations. 

“The court erred in imposing a longer period of confinement on the basis of finding an ‘undue risk’ that Mr. Cosby would ‘commit another crime’ despite uncontradicted expert testimony that his actual risk of reoffending is near zero,” Green said in the appeal. In response, O’Neill responded with a one-page answer saying that “the court has determined that no hearing or argument is required on the issues raised.

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Cosby’s wife of more than 50 years, Camille Cosby, has been the leading effort to remove O’Neill from the case by accusing him of being biased and unethical. After the ruling, she issued a statement saying that O’Neill had further shown his bias towards Cosby.

Cosby has also expressed wants for a new judge and new trial based on political rivalry of O’Neill and former District Attorney Bruce Castor, who had declined to press charges against him back in 2005 for lack of evidence.