*Bill Cosby’s legal team have filed an appeal of his sex- assault conviction, arguing that five of his accusers should’ve never been allowed to testify in his second trial.
The disgraced funnyman is currently serving a 3- to 10-year prison sentence for allegedly drugging and raping Andrea Constand at his Pennsylvania home in 2004.
The 348-page appeal filed by Cosby’s lawyers claims his “conviction was not based on any credible evidence that he actually committed the crimes for which he was on trial,” Page Six reports.
The appeal comes after trial Judge Steven O’Neill noted in a post-trial memo that their testimony showed “chilling similarities” that pointed to a “signature” crime, USA Today reports.
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Five of his alleged victims testified that the comedian gave them 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.”
The first trial ended in a hung jury, but only one additional accuser, besides Constand, was allowed to testify.
Cosby previously admitted to giving women Quaaludes before having sex with them in the ‘70s, but his lawyers noted in the filing: “It had absolutely nothing to do with the crimes for which Cosby was on trial.”
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.
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