Cosby's Criminal Defense Team Adds LA Appellate Pro Becky James
James, a former federal prosecutor and leader of the appellate practice at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips who is now at Greenberg Gross, has represented Bill Cosby previously in civil cases brought by his accusers.
January 24, 2018 at 12:50 PM
3 minute read
Bill Cosby has added more firepower to his criminal defense team as his April retrial approaches, bringing on a California appellate lawyer from a firm already representing Cosby in multiple civil actions.
Becky James of Greenberg Gross is the newest addition to the team representing Cosby at his retrial for aggravated assault charges, set to begin in April. She joins Tom Mesereau, Kathleen Bliss and local counsel Sam Silver, who entered their appearances in the case in August.
Cosby has completely replaced his defense team after the first trial last year, which ended in a hung jury and mistrial. He faces three counts of aggravated indecent assault stemming from Andrea Constand's allegations that he drugged and sexually assaulted her in 2004.
James said she is confident in her team's ability to secure an acquittal for Cosby. There will be some changes in their approach to the case compared to the first trial, and the defense is planning to file “significant motions” soon, she said.
Her law firm's experience representing Cosby in civil litigation will be helpful to the criminal defense, she said, particularly given that prosecutors are seeking to present testimony from other Cosby accusers besides Constand.
“There is definitely overlap on that issue. Our knowledge on that civil side will be helpful to the criminal team as well,” James said.
James joined Greenberg Gross in September as head of its appellate practice, and was named managing partner of the firm's Los Angeles office earlier this month. Until September, she was running her own firm focused on appellate matters and white-collar defense, and before that she was co-chair of the appellate practice at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips. She also spent more than a decade in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California as a federal prosecutor.
“Her expertise as one of the country's best appellate advocates will be of great value as we contend with prosecutors who, as they did in the first trial, will seek to obtain every tactical advantage,” Mesereau said in a statement.
Greenberg Gross was founded in 2013 by two former partners of Greenberg Traurig, Alan Greenberg and Wayne Gross. The firm has 23 lawyers.
Greenberg argued on Cosby's behalf in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in McKee v. Cosby, a defamation case brought by Katherine McKee that was ultimately dismissed. And in Dickinson v. Cosby, James recently filed a petition for review in the California Supreme Court, challenging a lower appellate court's decision that revived supermodel Janice Dickinson's defamation claims against Cosby and his attorney, Martin Singer.
The firm is also representing Cosby in ongoing civil cases brought by Judy Huth, Chloe Goins and a group of plaintiffs led by Tamara Green, James said.
Prosecutors in Cosby's case have asked the court to allow 19 women, in addition to Constand, to testify about their allegations that Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted them between the 1960s and the 1990s.
Jury selection for Cosby's criminal retrial is set to begin March 29 in the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas.
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