Bill Cosby is asking for a new trial after he got sentenced to three to 10 years in prison for sexual assault. However, prosecutors have dubbed the bid “meritless” and have since asked the judge to refuse a post-trial hearing, the Associated Press reports.
Cosby was sent to prison in September for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand in Cosby’s suburban Philadelphia home over 10 years ago, after being convicted on three counts back in April. The judge labeled Cosby a “sexually violent predator” who is dangerous for the community.
Defense lawyers maintained that Montgomery County Judge Steven O’Neill made errors during the trial and sentencing, which disqualify Cosby’s sentencing. On Friday, District Attorney Kevin Steele shared in a memo that Cosby’s disagreements are “time-worn” and have already been denied by the judge.
Cosby said his sentence is more than twice the minimum advised in Pennsylvania state guidelines and objected that he has to concede to the crime and endure sex-offender therapy for the possibility of parole in three years. Steele then called parole “only a possibility,” since it’s upon the state parole board to decide the rules.
The defense questioned the authenticity of a taped phone conversation between Cosby and the accuser’s mother from 2005. During his post-trial motion, Cosby said the tape had been tampered with. Prosecutors responded by saying everyone has known that the mother was grappling with the tape recorder and wasn’t able to record all of the call. Another defense is that Cosby’s arrest in 2015 might have happened too late since it’s not clear when the incident occurred. According to Steele, Cosby shared in a deposition that the encounter took place in 2004, which is within the 12-year timeframe to file charges.
