Cosby Team Calls For Judge's Recusal Ahead Of Sentencing

NORRISTOWN, PA — The ultimate fate of Bill Cosby, convicted of drugging and molesting a woman in 2004, will be determined next week. But before that happens, the former comedian's defense team is seeking to have the presiding judge recuse himself from the case, alleging a bias that dates back decades.

Cosby's sentencing hearing has been scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, Sept. 24 and Sept. 25, at 9:30 a.m. each morning. Judge Steven T. O'Neill is set to preside. Cosby, 80, faces up to ten years in prison on each of three counts of aggravated indecent assault. He was found guilty in his retrial on April 26 of drugging and molesting Andrea Constand, a Temple University employee and acquaintance, at his Cheltenham home in 2004.

This latest development occurred late last week when Cosby's lawyers filed the motion for recusal, demanding that Judge O'Neill step down due to a connection with former DA Bruce Castor.

It's yet another tangle in the complex web of judicial relationships between Castor, O'Neill, and current Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele, who was in charge of this spring's successful prosecution of Cosby.

Castor ran against and defeated O'Neill in the Republican primary of the DA's race in 1999, and went on to win again in 2003. He was the DA when the allegations were first brought up against Cosby in 2005.

Castor testified in 2016 that he had declined to press charges against Cosby when he was the DA in 2005 because he thought it would clear the way for Constand to win millions in a civil suit (she did; $3.4 million). He also said at the time that he thought there were credibility issues with Constand. Castor has since said that given the new evidence that came to light, he would not hesitate to prosecute.

The situation further complicated itself as Constand filed a defamation suit against Castor during Castor's failed reelection bid for DA against Steele in 2015. Castor, in turn, filed a personal injury suit against Constand, saying her claims that he was "not tough enough" on sexual predators led to his losing the election. Both cases were dismissed.

When criminal charges were finally pressed against Cosby in Dec. 2015, O'Neill was named the judge. The three former political opponents were again in the courtroom together when Castor was called as a witness. Cosby's team tried to get the case thrown out by alleging that Cosby had made an immunity deal with Castor in 2005. However, O'Neill ruled that any such deal, if it existed, was null, and that the prosecution could go forth.

Now, returning to Sept. 2018, the Cosby team is revisiting this angle again, alleging that O'Neill's 2016 decision was biased by an "acrimonious" relationship with Castor.

In their motion issued on Sept. 11, the defense claims in the spring of 1999, when O'Neill and Castor were battling for the Republican nomination, a woman who had previously dated O'Neill was working for Castor. The motion claims that Castor told the woman to attend an upcoming debate with O'Neill, which Cosby's team said served no purpose other than as a "petty attempt to rattle or distract" O'Neill.

The motion concluded that O'Neill should have disclosed the relationship with Castor prior to the trial.

In their rebuttal to Cosby's motion issued on Sept. 13, the DA's office said the defense did not provide sufficient evidence of bias to warrant a recusal from the case.

A response to the motion is expected before Cosby's sentencing hearing begins next Monday.

Cosby's first trial ended with a hung jury in 2017. His April conviction on three counts of aggravated indecent assault on April 26 could bring with them up to ten years in prison for each charge.

The verdict brought an end to years of rumors, preliminary hearings, and other courtroom drama related to Cosby and the dozens of women who had accused him of sexual misconduct. Constand was the first to bring Cosby to criminal trial.

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