Deadlocked jury in Bill Cosby sex case asks judge for guidance

JURORS in Bill Cosby’s sexual assault trial have asked for a definition of “reasonable doubt” on their fifth day of deliberations, a day after telling the judge they were deadlocked on all charges.

The panel also reheard parts of Cosby’s lurid deposition evidence in which he acknowledged giving sedatives to women he wanted to have sex with.

Cosby gave the deposition more than a decade ago as part of accuser Andrea Constand’s lawsuit against him.

The 79-year-old comedian is charged with three felony counts of aggravated indecent assault over allegations that he drugged and sexually violated Ms Constand (44). A conviction could put him in prison for the rest of his life.

Jurors made the requests a few minutes after resuming deliberations on Friday. They have been working for more than 40 hours since getting the case on Monday.

The TV star said in a 2006 deposition that he got seven prescriptions for quaaludes in the 1970s after telling his doctor he had a sore back. Cosby said he never took the powerful sedative, preferring to keep it on hand for social situations.

“When you got the quaaludes, was it in your mind that you were going to use these quaaludes for young women that you wanted to have sex with?” Cosby was asked. “Yes,” he answered. But he said he no longer had them when he met Ms Constand in 2002 at Temple University.