Norristown, Pennsylvania - Jurors deciding Bill
Cosby's fate at his sexual assault trial resumed deliberations
on Friday morning and will try to break a deadlock on all three
charges.
After the jury sent a note on Thursday morning saying it was
unable to reach a unanimous verdict, Judge Steven O'Neill, in a
state court in Norristown, Pennsylvania, instructed the panel to
continue trying. But the jurors failed to come to an agreement
by 9 pm ET, after 40 hours of discussions.
Cosby, 79, is accused of sexually assaulting Andrea Constand
at his Philadelphia-area home in 2004, after giving her pills
that she says left her unable to thwart his advances.
The former star of the 1980s TV hit "The Cosby Show" faces
similar allegations from dozens of women, though only Constand's
claim has resulted in criminal charges. Cosby has denied every
accusation and said his encounter with Constand was consensual.
The jury's note, delivered a few minutes after 11 a.m. on
Thursday, raised the possibility that the closely watched case
might end in a mistrial, leaving it to prosecutors to decide
whether to seek a retrial.
A hung jury would represent a clear victory for Cosby, who
would avoid what could have been years in prison for three
counts of aggravated indecent assault.
The jury this week has asked to rehear large excerpts of
trial testimony, including several versions of the incident that
both Cosby and Constand have given over the years.
Cosby did not testify, but his account was shown to the
juror in the form of a police interview from 2005, as well as
sworn depositions he gave in 2005 and 2006 as part of Constand's
civil lawsuit against him.
Constand, meanwhile, appeared as the prosecution's key
witness, telling jurors that Cosby gave her three pills he
suggested were herbal, before taking advantage of her
disorientation to sexually assault her.
Cosby's lawyers sought to discredit her by pointing to
discrepancies between her testimony and several statements she
made to law enforcement in 2005, when she first reported the
incident a year after it allegedly occurred.
Prosecutors relied on the testimony of a second accuser,
Kelly Johnson, as well as Cosby's own words to make the argument
that he is a serial offender.
Johnson testified that Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted
her in 1996, while Cosby acknowledged in depositions that he
gave young women sedatives in the 1970s.