NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) — The prosecutor in Bill Cosby’s sex-assault case is opposing the actor’s demand that the trial judge step down before this month’s sentencing.
FILE – In this April 26, 2018 file photo, actor and comedian Bill Cosby departs the courthouse after he was found guilty in his sexual assault retrial, at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa. Cosby’s lawyers will fight a prosecution bid to have other accusers testify at his sentencing this month on felony sex assault charges. Prosecutors in Pennsylvania want at least some of Cosby’s dozens of other accusers to testify at the Sept. 24 sentencing. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)
Cosby’s lawyers say Judge Steven O’Neill has a longstanding grudge with a key pretrial witness and should recuse himself. O’Neill is set to sentence Cosby on Sept. 24 over a 2004 encounter with a woman at his estate near Philadelphia.
The witness is a former county prosecutor, Bruce Castor, who declined to charge Cosby when the woman came forward in 2005.
Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele in a court filing Thursday notes that the judge handled some 2,000 criminal cases during Castor’s tenure.
Cosby faces up to 10 years in prison on each count but could get far less time under state sentencing guidelines.
© Copyright 2018 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
