Bill Cosby’s Lawyer Asks Court to Overturn Conviction, Prison Sentence

Disgraced comedian was convicted on three counts of aggravated indecent assault

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Attorneys for Bill Cosby asked for his convictions on three counts of aggravated indecent assault be overturned and his three- to 10-year prison sentence voided, citing what they say are errors made in the case.

In a document filed Friday, Cosby’s defense team argues that Judge Steven O’Neill was wrong to declare that the actor fit the description of a “sexually violent predator,” which requires him to undergo lifetime counseling and report quarterly to authorities. His name will also appear on a sex-offender registry sent to neighbors, schools and victims.

They also added that prison sentence was extreme, given that the standard for that crime is two to three years, and that Cosby is a partially blind 81-year-old.

Cosby was convicted in April of assaulting Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his Pennsylvania home in 2004.

An arrest was made on Dec. 30, 2015, but the initial trial ended in a mistrial on July 2017 after the jury was unable to reach a verdict. During his subsequent retrial in April, jurors heard testimony from Constand, as well as five other Cosby accusers, including model Janice Dickinson, who testified that the comedian raped her in Lake Tahoe, California, in 1982.

Cosby’s team said that O’Neill wrongly considered the testimony of the other accusers when sentencing him.

Cosby has maintained that his interaction with Constand was consensual and that he had given her Benadryl to help her relax.

Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.

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