Ex-Disney actor: Judge in sex crime case has anti-gay bias
SALT LAKE CITY, UT – A former Disney Channel actor charged with trying to have sex with a 13-year-old boy in Salt Lake City contends he can't get a fair trial because the judge handling his case is biased against gay people. Nielson argued then that being gay is a choice and people can become heterosexual via conversion therapy, defense attorney Wendy Lewis wrote in court documents. Judge Nielson refuted the notion and denied Westmoreland's request for him to recuse himself from the case. “I can state categorically and unequivocally that I do not harbor any personal bias or prejudice concerning Mr. Westmoreland,” Nielson wrote in his order denying the motion earlier this month. Westmoreland was fired from his grandfather role on the made-in-Utah Disney Channel series "Andi Mack" after his December arrest.