Cosby jury still struggling to reach verdict

Judge orders haggard jurors to continue deliberations

NORRISTOWN, PA.— Jurors in Bill Cosby’s sexual assault trial said Thursday 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 star’s career.

The panel deliberated for about 30 hours over four days before telling Judge Steven O’Neill 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.

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 spokesperson maintained the impasse showed that jurors doubted Constand’s story.

“They’re conflicted about the inconsistencies in Ms. Constand’s testimony,” spokesperson 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.”