Deadlocked Cosby jury told to keep trying
NORRISTOWN, PA. — Jurors in Bill Cosby’s sexual assault trial said they are deadlocked on charges he drugged and molested a woman in 2004, but a judge ordered them to keep trying to reach a unanimous decision in a case that has already helped obliterate the TV star’s career and nice-guy reputation.
The panel deliberated about 30 hours over four days before telling Judge Steven O’Neill on Thursday they “cannot come to a unanimous consensus on any of the counts” against Cosby, 79, who is charged with three counts of aggravated indecent assault.
The judge sent them back to the jury room to keep talking and denied a defence motion for a mistrial. Hours later, the jury was still at it late into Thursday night.
The sequestered jurors have appeared increasingly tired and upset after deliberating late into the night the past three days. Some jurors looked defeated as the judge ordered them to continue deliberating. One, more upbeat, nodded along.
The case involves Cosby’s sexual encounter with Andrea Constand, 44, at his suburban Philadelphia home. Constand says Cosby gave her pills that made her woozy, then violated her. His lawyer says Cosby and Constand were lovers sharing a consensual moment of intimacy.
Cosby’s spokesman maintained the impasse showed that jurors doubted Constand’s story.
“They’re conflicted about the inconsistencies in Ms. Constand’s testimony,” spokesman Andrew Wyatt said. “And they’re hearing Mr. C.’s testimony and he’s extremely truthful. And that’s created this doubt.”
Constand’s lawyer, Dolores Troiani, said only that the “jury is apparently working very hard.” The district attorney’s office declined to comment.
Constand herself passed the time by shooting hoops in a hallway outside the district attorney’s office. She tweeted a video Thursday that shows her shooting a mini-basketball into a net to the tune of “Sweet Georgia Brown,” the theme song of the Harlem Globetrotters. It ended with: “ALWAYS FOLLOW THROUGH.”
Constand won a national title with the University of Arizona and played in a pro league in Europe before landing a job with Temple University women’s basketball team. It was at Temple she met Cosby, a member of the school’s board of trustees.
With the jury struggling to find common ground, some of the other women who have accused Cosby of sexual assault confronted sign-waving Cosby supporters gathered on the courthouse steps to await the outcome. But the atmosphere remained calm, with accusers and supporters even holding hands at times.
Dozens of women have come forward to say Cosby had drugged and assaulted them.