NEWSMAKERS

NEWSMAKERS

Bill Cosby renews attacks on trial judge as he seeks bail

PHILADELPHIA

Imprisoned actor Bill Cosby is renewing attacks on a Pennsylvania trial judge as he seeks bail while he appeals his sex-assault conviction.

Lawyers for the 81-year-old Cosby filed a bail motion Wednesday with the state Superior Court. They complained that in the seven months since Cosby’s sentencing, Montgomery County Judge Steven O’Neill has not issued his post-trial opinion explaining key trial decisions. They need the opinion in hand to raise alleged trial errors and pursue Cosby’s appeals.

Cosby’s lawyers filed notice in December of the alleged trial errors they plan to pursue. Judge O’Neill is expected to address them in the opinion. The motion again accuses Judge O’Neil of harboring a personal grudge against a former prosecutor who became a key defense witness. And they say Cosby is likely to have his “legally infirm and unsupported” conviction overturned and should therefore be granted bail, especially given his “advanced age.”

The defense also plans to challenge the judge’s decisions to assign himself the case, let five other Cosby accusers testify and let the jury hear Cosby’s prior deposition testimony about quaaludes. They also insist that Cosby had a binding promise from the former prosecutor that he would never be charged over the 2004 encounter with Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his estate near Philadelphia.

Calif. court is latest to weigh Manson follower’s parole

LOS ANGELES

A yearslong saga over whether Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten deserves to be freed from prison took another sharp turn Wednesday as an appeals court questioned its jurisdiction in the case.

Van Houten’s attorney told a three-judge panel of the 2nd District Court of Appeals that his client is remorseful and takes responsibility for her crimes. A state prosecutor said the 69-year-old has placed too much blame on Manson.

Van Houten was 19 when she and fellow members of Manson’s cult fatally stabbed Los Angeles grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, in 1969. The killings took place a day after other so-called Manson family members killed actress Sharon Tate and four others in crimes that shocked the world.

Van Houten, who is serving a life sentence, was not involved in the other killings.

Associated Press