PHILADELPHIA _ Bill Cosby's lawyers on Thursday asked the Montgomery County judge who presided over his last trial to step aside before the upcoming retrial, saying the judge's views may have been unduly influenced by his wife's work as an advocate for sexual assault victims.
In a motion filed barely a week before Cosby's retrial is set to begin in Norristown, Pa., the defense team asked Judge Steven T. O'Neill to recuse himself and allow the case to be assigned to another judge.
Their request comes days after O'Neill agreed to allow five additional accusers to testify at the upcoming proceedings _ a decision Cosby's legal team pointed to Thursday in arguing that the judge could be perceived as biased.
O'Neill's wife, Deborah, is a social worker who leads a sexual trauma outreach program at the University of Pennsylvania. She wrote her dissertation on acquaintance rape and has described herself as an "advocate for assault victims."
Cosby has denied charges that he drugged and assaulted Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee, with whom he had become friendly in 2004.
His first trial ended in in June in a hung jury and mistrial. Jury selection in his retrial is scheduled to begin April 2.
