The jurors in Bill Cosby’s sexual assault trial are still to reach an unanimous verdict after 40 hours of deliberations across four days.
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Cosby’s spokesperson told reporters outside the courtroom that “this deadlock shows the “Not Guilty” that Mr. Cosby has been saying the whole time”. “But each of you must decide by yourself”.
“It’s a very, very rare occasion that a judge is going to let a jury off the hook on the first indication they’re hopelessly deadlocked”, Paskey said.
The jurors had heard five days of testimony from prosecution witnesses, and a six-minute defense from Cosby’s lawyers. She’s become close friends with Andrea Constand, and during Cosby’s trial for allegedly sexually assaulting Constand, she’s been at the courthouse daily clutching pink gladiolus flowers, a symbol of resistance. A former Playboy playmate, she says Cosby drugged and raped her in 1969.
Constand denies there was any romance between them and told jurors she had rebuffed his advances before the assault.
The jury was told to go back to deliberating amongst each other and try and reach a consensus.
Defense lawyers at trial emphasized various discrepancies in the statements Constand made to police in 2005 in an effort to undermine her credibility.
The story will be updated at 4:30 p.m. today.
In a 2005 deposition, Cosby described giving Constand pills before engaging in sexual contact with her. “The consent issue is good for Cosby – the deposition is not”.
Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele has given no indication yet whether he would seek a second trial.
Or, it simply could be a sign that the jurors are meticulous, he said. “If you’ve reached a unanimous decision on some of the charges, please report that back to me”.
He did not give a time limit for deliberations. “And they’re still being able to deliberate on their own without any pressure from anyone”.
Cosby’s attorney filed for a mistrial, but Judge Steven O’Neill rejected the request. “Peer pressure”, he added, often is enough to make the holdouts agree with the rest.
It is unclear what is the central point of disagreement among the jurors.
She added, “They can not reach a verdict until all of them agree”.
He also has claimed that their physical contact was consensual. “They want to get it right”. Juries are required to find a defendant guilty only if the evidence establishes it beyond a reasonable doubt. After the declaration of a mistrial, prosecutors may choose to retry the case with a different set of jurors, or they may cut their losses. Her mother, Gianna Constand, pulled a cloth from her pocket to wipe away tears Wednesday as she listened to the testimony.
Final cost estimates for the trial have not yet been tallied, county officials have said. He said she didn’t show any ill effects from the medicine, nor did she object as he groped her.
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They also asked the judge to again explain the meaning of “reasonable doubt”.
