Cosby judge shoots down last-ditch bid by defence to delay trial
The judge in Bill Cosby’s retrial rejected demands from the comedian’s defence lawyers to step aside during a hearing yesterday, during which they made it clear that they plan to attack his accuser as a greedy liar who falsely accused him of sexually assaulting her to collect a payoff.
Judge Steven O’Neill shot down what amounted to a last-ditch effort to postpone the trial by defence lawyers, who lost their bid to overturn his ruling allowing up to five additional accusers to testify against Cosby.
Lawyers argued that the judge should remove himself because his wife is a social worker and advocate for assault victims, pointing to a US$100 donation made in her name to an organisation that gave money to a group planning a protest outside the retrial.
The judge said the donation was made 13 months ago by the department where his wife works at the University of Pennsylvania, and he was ‘‘not biased or prejudiced’’ by her work.
Jury selection is scheduled to
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