Cosby prosecutor to try him again

NORRISTOWN, Pa. — Bill Cosby, the comedian once known as “America’s Dad” for his TV role as paternal Dr. Cliff Huxtable, declared victory on Father’s Day after a jury deliberated 52 hours without reaching consensus on charges he drugged and molested a woman in 2004.

No one from Cosby’s real or TV families was in court Saturday when the case ended in a mistrial.

District Attorney Kevin Steele vowed to try the 79-year-old Cosby a second time, saying accuser Andrea Constand supported the decision. Cosby’s team declared victory. By sowing doubt among one or more jurors, Cosby’s lawyers managed to overcome two years of unrelenting bad publicity for their client after the public release of his damaging testimony about drugs and sex, as well as a barrage of accusations from 60 women who came forward to accuse him of sexual assault.

Constand, now 44, told jurors Cosby gave her pills that made her woozy and then penetrated her with his fingers as she lay paralyzed on a couch, unable to tell him to stop.