Bill Cosby's trial judge is rejecting a defense motion to step down from the sex assault case before Monday's sentencing hearing in suburban Philadelphia.
Montgomery County Judge Steven O'Neill has seen the case through two trials, hard-fought pretrial hearings and 15 defense lawyers since Cosby's arrest in late 2015.
Camille Cosby argues in a state ethics complaint this week that O'Neill is biased against her husband because of an alleged feud with a former prosecutor who became a witness in the case.
O'Neill in an opinion Wednesday says the defense motion is "meritless" and doesn't raise any new information about his past.
The 81-year-old Cosby faces a 30-year maximum term after a jury found he drugged and molested a woman friend at his estate in 2004. But state guidelines call for about one to four years.
