Lawyers for Bill Cosby have officially filed an appeal of his sexual assault conviction after claiming the trial judge made 11 errors during court proceedings.
The 81-year-old comedian is currently serving three to 10 years in prison after being found guilty of drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004.
However, his legal representatives, Brian Perry and Kristen Weisenberger, are seeking to challenge the conviction after criticising the way in which Montgomery County Court Judge Steven ONeill handled the case.
The list of reported errors allegedly include wrongly ignoring the testimony by a former district attorney who said he had promised never to prosecute Cosby, and allowing five other women to take the stand against Cosby.
Heidi Thomas, Janice Baker-Kinney, Chelan Lasha, Maud Lise Lotte Lublin and supermodel Janice Dickinson all testified that they too had been drugged and sexually assaulted by the actor.
The trial court abused its discretion, erred and infringed on Mr. Cosbys constitutional rights to Due Process of Law under the Constitution of the United States and of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in admitting five prior “bad act witnesses”, Perry and Weisenberger said in a statement.
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[The witnesses] allegations were too remote in time and too dissimilar to the Constand allegations, they added.According to the New York Times, Judge ONeill is set to write an opinion addressing his decisions during the trial and the complaints raised by the defense.
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Prosecutors have 30 days to reply once Cosbys lawyers file their full legal brief, and the Pennsylvania Superior Court can decide whether or not it wants to take up the case. The appeals process could take as long as a year.
Metro.co.uk has contacted Cosbys representatives for comment.
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