NORRISTOWN,
Pa. (AP) -- Four days after getting the case, deadlocked jurors
in Bill Cosby's sexual assault trial struggled to end their impasse
Thursday on charges he drugged and molested a woman in 2004, the
prospect of a mistrial growing larger even as the judge directed them to
keep talking.
The jurors had deliberated
about 30 hours before telling Judge Steven O'Neill they couldn't reach a
unanimous decision on any of the counts against the 79-year-old
comedian. The judge told them to try again for a verdict.
As
evening fell, the panel of seven men and five women was still at it,
poised for another marathon session in a case that has already helped
torpedo Cosby's career and nice-guy reputation.
The
charges involve 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 passed the time by shooting hoops in a hallway outside the district attorney's office. She tweeted a video
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 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,
but this was the only case to result in criminal charges.
The
12-member jury 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 the TV star or drop the charges.
Pennsylvania
law professor David Rudovsky, a criminal lawyer in Philadelphia, said
Thursday that the jurors' inability to agree on a verdict didn't
surprise him, given the nature of a case that boiled down to Cosby's
word against his accuser's and the legal meaning of consent.
He added a hung jury would be a victory for Cosby.
"In
most criminal cases, anything short of a conviction is a win for the
defense," said Rudovsky, who isn't involved in the case. "It doesn't
surprise me that this jury is split. The prosecution had a strong case,
but the defense was able to show a lot of inconsistencies."
The
sequestered jurors have appeared increasingly tired and upset as
deliberations dragged on. Some of them looked defeated as the judge sent
them back to the jury room. One, more upbeat, nodded along.
The
jury, bused in from the Pittsburgh area, has paused a half-dozen times
to revisit key evidence, including Cosby's decade-old admissions that he
fondled Constand after giving her pills.
Each
of the three counts of aggravated indecent assault against Cosby
carries a maximum 10-year prison term, though the counts could be merged
at sentencing if he is convicted.
The case
has already helped demolish his image as America's Dad, cultivated
during his eight-year run as kindly Dr. Cliff Huxtable on the top-rated
"The Cosby Show" in the 1980s and '90s.
The
Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are
victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, which Constand
has done.
