Bill Cosby Replaces Legal Team As Sex Assault Sentencing Looms
PHILADELPHIA (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Bill Cosby has ousted the high-powered defense team whose aggressive tactics failed to sway jurors from convicting him of sexual assault in April.
Cosby's spokesman Andrew Wyatt said Thursday that Tom Mesereau and the rest of the retrial team have been replaced by a Philadelphia-area defense attorney with experience handling sex crimes cases.
The new lawyer, Joseph Green, didn't immediately return a message.
Wyatt wouldn't say why the change was made.
Cosby is scheduled for sentencing Sept. 24 on three counts of aggravated indecent assault. He was convicted of violating Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004. The guilty verdict on three charges came less than a year after another jury deadlocked.
Bill Cosby's wife, Camille, is calling for a criminal investigation into the prosecutor behind his sexual assault conviction, saying the case was "mob justice, not real justice" and a "tragedy" that must be undone.
She has also called Constand a liar.
At up to 10 years per guilty verdict, it's doubtful the 80-year-old comedians would survive past such a jail term.
The charges will likely be combined into one charge that carries a standard sentence of five to 10 years in prison.
The 80-year-old comedian has been on house arrest since his conviction.
(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)