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A judge has rejected Bill Cosby’s bid for a retrial after the disgraced comedian was found guilty in June of sexually assaulting a minor in 1975.
Cosby was ordered to pay the victim — Judy Huth, who was 16 at the time of the sexual assault that took place at the Playboy Mansion — $500,000 in damages after a jury found him guilty during a civil trial.
Earlier this week, Cosby’s lawyers argued that he should be awarded a new trial after Huth revised the details of her case: Huth originally said the assault happened when in 1974 when she was 15 but changed it to 1975 and 16 years old before the trial; Cosby’s legal team argued that the change in the timeline made it harder for them to defend their client, the Hollywood Reporter wrote.
However, on Tuesday, Judge Craig D. Karlan rejected Cosby’s arguments and stood by the jury’s verdict.
“(Cosby) has failed to establish he received an unfair trial or that insufficient evidence existed to establish his liability for plaintiff’s harm,” Karlan wrote in his ruling.
Cosby’s spokesman Andrew Wyatt said in a statement that Cosby would appeal the judge’s ruling (via Variety).
“We have always stood the ground by saying, ‘this was a trial by assassination against Mr. Cosby,’” Wyatt said in a statement. “The after glow for Mr. Cosby is that he maintains his innocence and vehemently denies all alleged allegations waged against him.”
Huth’s lawsuit was the first sex abuse civil trial against Cosby to reach a jury. Cosby — whose criminal conviction in the Andrea Constand casewas overturned in Sept. 2021 — did not attend the trial. He still faces a lawsuit byactress and visual artist Lili Bernardin federal court in New Jersey.
