After the jury in Bill Cosby’s sexual assault case admitted that it was deadlocked on all the three charges, it withdrew into their hotel for four days of deliberation. This came barely hours after the judge had directed the jurors to try and reach an outside-court solution. The jury will return on Friday for a fifth day deliberation.
During the fourth deliberation, admitted that they are unable to get a solution on any of the charges. Cosby watched calmly as the jury which is white dominated with five women and seven men filled the courtroom. As of Thursday, the jury had been deliberating over the case for around 40 hours.
A mistral request by the defense was turned down by the judge terming it inappropriately timed. In a response to the jury’s grim missive, the judge reminded the members that it is their responsibility to try and reach an agreement in some of the charges.
The jury was selected last month and isolated during the trial period. The jury is deliberating on three accounts of assault charges against the entertainer. Cosby is looking at 10 year in jail for each charge if found guilty. Although the hung jury can initiate the possibility of a retrial, such an outcome would be a blessing to Cosby.
As has always been the case during the trial, Cosby left the courtroom with his publicist, Andrew Wyatt and retreated into one of the courthouse rooms where he has been waiting during the entire deliberation process. While addressing the media, Wyatt said Cosby was feeling weary and exhausted but expressed optimism in the outcome.
Cosby is facing accusations of assaulting Andrea Constand who was by then the operations manager for women’s basketball team at Temple University. Cosby was a member of the board of trustee and a major booster. He has denied all the charges and maintained that his relationship with the victim was romantic and consensual. The incident is said to have happened after Constand went to Cosby’s home located outside Philadelphia in 2004. There are many similarities in the events of that night as accounted by both parties. However Cosby maintains that it was consensual, an allegation that Constand has denied.
