A mistrial looms for Bill Cosby’s sexual assault trial as the jury ended their fourth and most dramatic day of deliberations Thursday deadlocked but asked to press on. They were expected to return for Day 5 on Friday morning.
Early Thursday, the panel told the court they were deadlocked on each of the three counts against Cosby, but Montgomery County Judge Steven O’Neill urged them to continue deliberations. After 9 p.m., the judge said 12 hours of deliberation was long enough — and then instructed them to quit for the day.
The 12-person jury began deliberations Monday evening following six days of testimony in Norristown, Penn., just outside Philadelphia.
Cosby faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted on all three felony counts.
Andrea Constand testified that Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her at his mansion in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania. She contends that Cosby gave her wine and three pills, causing her to pass out, and then “sexually violated” her.
Cosby denies the allegations; he declined to testify in his own defense at trial.
The jury — which was made up of four white women, six white men, one black woman and one black man — was selected in Pittsburgh in late May and has been sequestered near Philadelphia for the duration of the trial.
More than 60 women have come forward to accuse Cosby of sexual assault since the allegation re-entered the spotlight in 2014, thanks to a viral stand-up bit by comedian Hannibal Buress. However, this month’s trial marked the first time Cosby faced criminal charges; the statute of limitations had expired in virtually all of the other cases.