Bill Cosby appeals Sexual Assault Conviction, claims “errors in legal procedure”

NORRISTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA – MAY 24: Actor and comedian Bill Cosby leaves a preliminary hearing on sexual assault charges on May 24, 2016 in at Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pennsylvania. Enough evidence was found to proceed with a trial, a Pennsylvania judge ruled. (Photo by William Thomas Cain/Getty Images)

Bill Cosby’s lawyers have formally appealed his conviction for drugging and sexually attacking a former friend at his home near Philadelphia 15 years ago, citing what they called ‘errors in legal procedure’.

According to CNN, Bill Cosby appealed the conviction, arguing that it was flawed because the testimony of five accusers was “strikingly dissimilar” to that of Andrea Constand, the victim in the case. They argued further that Cosby’s 2004 assault on Constand and the incidents with the other women, which happened decades ago, are too far apart and “remote and unduly excessive”.

According to the lawyers’ 348-page appeal, Cosby, 81, was wrongly convicted on the basis of “flawed, erroneous, and prejudicial rulings” by the trial judge, NAN reports.

Bill Cosby had previously been accused of sexual assault by several women. In September of last year, trial judge, Steven O’Neill termed Cosby a “sexually violent predator” under state law, requiring that Cosby register as a sex offender for life. But Cosby had insisted that all sexual activities between him and the accusers were ‘consensual’. He was found guilty on three counts of aggravated indecent assault and sentenced to 3-10 years in prison.