Bill Cosby dumps his second legal team ahead of sentencing in fall

PHILADELPHIA (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spokesman Andrew Wyatt said Thursday that Tom Mesereau and the rest of the legal team that handled Cosby's retrial have been replaced by a Philadelphia-area defense attorney with experience handling sex crimes cases.

His new lawyer, Joseph Green, issued a statement via Wyatt.

"I am looking forward to representing Mr. Cosby in post verdict proceedings and at sentencing," Green said. "There are complicated legislative and constitutional issues unique to Pennsylvania law that have to be addressed prior to sentencing."

Wyatt wouldn't say why the change was made.

Cosby also parted ways with his first legal team, led by another Philadelphia defense lawyer, after his first trial ended in a mistrial in June 2017.

He then hired Mesereau, the flamboyant Los Angeles lawyer who successfully defended the late Michael Jackson from child molestation charges in 2005.

Cosby is scheduled for sentencing Sept. 24 on three counts of aggravated indecent assault for drugging and molesting a woman at his suburban Philadelphia mansion in 2004.

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.

WPXI