Disgraced comic and actor Bill Cosby is going on the attack against a Pennsylvania judge, as he seeks bail during his appeal against his sexual assault charges.
According to the Associated Press, Cosby filed a motion with the PA Supreme Court on Wednesday, claiming that Montgomery County Judge Steven O’Neill has not issued his post-trial opinion explaining specific legal decisions, which Cosby’s defense team needs in order to raise alleged trial errors and pursue appeals on behalf of the 81-year-old actor.
Cosby was convicted of three counts of sexual assault during a 2018 retrial in September, where he was accused of drugging and molesting a woman at his home in 2004. He was sentenced to 3 to 10-years in prison.
Cosby’s lawyers first filed notice in December of alleged trial errors they plan to pursue, but cannot specifically address until O’Neill files the opinion.
Cosby’s legal team claims that O’Neill harbors a personal grudge against the former prosecutor who served as a key witness for the defense team, plus ‘racial hatred,’ and claims that he is a ‘political prisoner’ like Nelson Mandela, according to PageSix.com.
A statement posted on Cosby’s Instagram account also claims that Cosby will have his “legally infirm and unsupported” conviction overturned and should be granted bail given his “advanced age.”
“Judge O’Neill is purposely denying Mr. Cosby the right to file his Appeal, because he has refused to issue his 1925(a) Opinion, which outlines why he felt strongly in sentencing Mr. Cosby to 3 to 10 years and felt obligated to place this 81 years old blind United States Citizen (who served his country in the United States Navy), in a level (5) maximum security prison (SCI Phoenix),” the statement on Instagram reads.
Cosby is also challenging a California arbitration award that upholds nearly $7 million of the $9.2 million billed by Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan for nine months worth of fees, claiming elder abuse and “egregious” billing practices, and of fraud for representing both him and the insurance company he was fighting in court, according to PennLive.
The defense also plans to challenge the judge’s decisions to assign himself the case, let five other accusers testify, and let the jury hear Cosby’s prior deposition testimony about the use of quaaludes in various sexual assault instances. They insist that Cosby had a binding promise from the former prosecutor that he would never be charged over a 2004 encounter with Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his home near Philadelphia.
As the accusations became public, more than ten women came forward, accusing Cosby of sexual misconduct.
