Philadelphia lawyer withdraws from Cosby defense team

Sam Silver, a board member of the Pennsylvania Innocence Project at the Beasley School of Law, was Cosby’s only lawyer from Philadelphia.

Bill Cosby leaves the Montgomery County Courthouse in August with his new defense team and spokesman. | JENNY ROBERTS / FILE PHOTO

Philadelphia-based lawyer Sam Silver filed a motion to withdraw from Bill Cosby’s legal team on Friday, according to court documents.

The motion comes a day after the former trustee’s defense team filed to dismiss Cosby’s sexual assault charges, ahead of his trial that’s set to begin on April 2, the Inquirer reported.

Silver, a board member of the Pennsylvania Innocence Project at the Beasley School of Law, could not be immediately reached for comment. Cosby hired a new defense team in August, including Los Angeles-based lawyer Tom Mesereau, who helped acquit Michael Jackson of child molestation charges in 2005, and Kathleen Bliss from Nevada.

Silver was Cosby’s only lawyer from the Philadelphia area.

The comedian’s lawyers also filed a motion on Thursday to present a testimony from a former coworker of Andrea Constand who claims the central accuser said she could make money from falsely accusing Cosby of sexual assault, the Inquirer reported.

Marguerite Jackson, a former academic adviser for the women’s basketball team, worked with Constand a year before the former director of operations for the women’s basketball team was allegedly molested by Cosby in 2004.

Montgomery County Judge Steven T. O’Neill blocked Jackson’s during Cosby’s first trial, the Inquirer reported.

Cosby is charged with aggravated indecent sexual assault.

This will be Cosby’s second criminal trial for those charges of sexual assault, after his June 2017 trial led to a hung jury and was declared a mistrial.

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