Bill Cosby Appeals Sex Assault Conviction

Bill Cosby filed another appeal of his conviction on sexual assault charges on Tuesday, arguing that five of his accusers should’ve never been allowed to testify in his second trial.

The funnyman-turned-felon is currently serving a three- to 10-year prison sentence for drugging and molesting Andrea Constand at his Pennsylvania home in 2004.

The 348-page appeal filed by his lawyers, Kristen Weisenberger, Brian Perry and Sarah Kelly-Kilgore in Pennsylvania Superior Court, claims his “conviction was not based on any credible evidence that he actually committed the crimes for which he was on trial.”

They take issue with the fact that Montgomery County Judge Steven O’Neill allowed testimony from five of his alleged victims, who told jurors the comedian plied them with pills before sexually assaulting them.

Cosby’s lawyers called their testimony “inflammatory evidence with no probative value to the actual crimes charged.”

“The evidence was used to strip Cosby of his presumption of innocence and to try to establish that Cosby had the propensity to sexually assault women,” they said. “This evidence never should have been admitted at trial.”

In his own filing last month, O’Neill defended the decision, saying the accusers were allowed to take the stand because there were “striking similarities” in their accounts.

At Cosby’s first trial, which ended in a hung jury, only one additional accuser, besides Constand, was allowed to testify.

“America’s Dad’s” legal team also argued against the admission of his civil deposition from 2005 and 2006, which they said was “in violation of Cosby’s Fifth Amendment rights.”

In the sworn testimony, Cosby admitted to giving women the powerful sedative called Quaaludes to women before having sex with them in the 1970s.

“It had absolutely nothing to do with the crimes for which Cosby was on trial,” the lawyers said in the filing.

Cosby spokesman Andrew Wyatt called the appeal “an important step in ensuring that Mr. Cosby receives a hearing from a fair and impartial court.”

“The Constitution guarantees that right to Mr. Cosby — and to all Americans — and he looks forward to securing justice in the court of appeal,” he said.

The Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office declined to comment, other than to say, “We have 30 days to file our response.”

Cosby filed an appeal to a lower court in December. His appeal to Pennsylvania Superior Court is the next step in the process.

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