Bill Cosby Denied Retrial in 1975 Sexual Assault Case at Playboy Mansion

Bill Cosby and his lawyers were denied a request for a retrial in the sexual assault case tied to an incident from the 1970s at the Playboy Mansion, according to a ruling from a Los Angeles Superior Court judge from Tuesday.

“Cosby has failed to establish he received an unfair trial or that insufficient evidence existed to establish his liability for Plaintiff’s harm,” Judge Craig Karlan said in the ruling. The court had heard arguments at the Santa Monica Courthouse on Sept. 23.

Cosby in June lost a lawsuit brought by plaintiff Judy Huth, who had alleged that Cosby sexually assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion in 1975, when she was 16 years old. Huth claimed that Cosby instructed her to say that she was 19 if anyone asked. The actor and comedian was previously deposed in the case in October 2014.

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Cosby at the time was ordered to pay $500,000. However, Cosby’s attorney tried to have the case thrown out and then sought a re-trial based on Huth initially saying the assault took place in 1974, but later revised the timeline to 1975, meaning she would have been 16. Cosby’s team unsuccessfully attempted to have the case thrown out of court over that change.

“Once again we won and Bill Cosby lost,” Huth’s attorney Gloria Allred said in a statement. “Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge, Craig D. Karlan, denied Bill Cosby’s motion for a new trial.  Instead, the Judge decided that Bill Cosby had received a fair trial and there was no basis for a new trial. We believe that Mr. Cosby must be bitterly disappointed with the outcome, but that won’t change the Judge’s decision. The jury found that Bill Cosby was responsible for sexual battery of a child. Child sexual abuse is reprehensible. Mr. Cosby should take responsibility, rather than continuing to fight the jury’s verdict which our law firm fought for and won.”

“Judge Karlan denying Mr. Cosby a new trial was expected, but it’s unfortunate that this judge ignored the inconsistencies in Ms. Huth testimony during cross examination, and the mere fact that Ms. Huth changed her time line of events in the 11th hour before the trial,” Cosby’s rep Andrew Wyatt said in a statement. “We have always stood our ground by saying, ‘this was a trial by assassination against Mr. Cosby.’ The after glow for Mr. Cosby is that he maintains his innocence and vehemently denies all alleged allegations waged against him.”

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Wyatt further added that Cosby intends to move forward with an appeal of the decision.

Cosby was released last June after he served three years of a three-to-10-year Pennsylvania state prison sentence over a felony sexual assault charge from 2018. In overturning the conviction, the state’s Supreme Court ruled that Cosby cannot be retried and that the prosecutor who brought the case was bound by an agreement from his predecessor to not bring charges.

Huth’s was one of the last leftover legal claims against Cosby after he was freed from prison, and he does not face jail time after this case.

Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.

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