Jury mulls Bill Cosby verdict for fifth day

NORRISTOWN, Pa. — The jury in Bill Cosby’s sexual assault case tested the patience of defense lawyers and even the judge on the fifth day of deliberations yesterday as it struggled to break a deadlock that threatens to end the trial without a verdict.

With deliberations running about as long as the testimony of all the witnesses combined, Cosby’s lawyer complained that jurors were seeking a replay of the trial.

Judge Steven O’Neill twice refused defense requests for a mistrial, declaring that jurors could talk as long as they wanted over allegations that Cosby drugged and molested Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia mansion in 2004.

Dozens of women have come forward to say Cosby drugged and assaulted them, but this was the only case to result in criminal charges.

Yesterday, the jury asked to review multiple pieces of evidence, including Cosby’s 2006 deposition testimony about quaaludes, a nowbanned party drug.

Cosby, who gave the deposition as part of Constand’s lawsuit against him, said he got seven prescriptions for the powerful sedative in the 1970s for the purpose of giving them to women with whom he wanted to have sex.

The jurors also listened to the definition of reasonable doubt, the threshold that prosecutors must cross to win a conviction.

The panel got the case on Monday. It must come to a unanimous decision to convict or acquit.

If the panel can’t break the deadlock, the judge could declare a hung jury and a mistrial. In that case, prosecutors would get four months to decide whether they want to retry Cosby or drop the charges.