Bill Cosby’s appeal to overturn sexual conviction denied by court

Bill Cosby’s appeal to overturn his sexual conviction has been denied.

The 82-year-old entertainer was given a ten-year jail sentence in April after a jury found him guilty of three counts of aggravated indecent assault for the drugging and sexual assault of his one-time friend Andrea Constand.

In October his lawyers began working to overturn the conviction – as they said the judge Steven O’Neill should not have allowed the five additional accusers to testify at his trial.

Yesterday, the appeals court ruled that O’Neill was correct in allowing their testimony – even if they happened 22 years prior to Crosby’s assault of Andrea.

The appeal court said, according to NBC News: “Here, the time period in question is substantial, especially in relation to existing case law. Nevertheless, several factors tend to demonstrate” that the value of the “evidence remains strong, despite that substantial time gap.”

The court cited: “distinctive similarities between the additional testimony and Cosby’s assault of Constand.

“Furthermore, there were multiple prior sexual assaults, not merely one, and all of those prior assaults evidenced the same, signature pattern of misconduct.”
Cosby’s lawyers have previously taken issue with judge O’Neill’s wife being a psychiatrist who works with sexual assault victims.

After a jury found Cosby guilty of three counts of aggravated indecent assault for the drugging and sexual assault of his one-time friend Andrea Constand, O’Neill on Sept. 25 branded him a “predator” and sentenced him to three to 10 years in prison.

The once-beloved comedian, known as America’s Dad in the 1980s and 1990s during the run of his hit television sitcom, was marched out of court in shackles and began serving his sentence immediately.