With jury deadlocked, Bill Cosby sexual assault case declared a mistrial.

With Jury Deadlocked, Bill Cosby Sexual Assault Case Declared a Mistrial

With Jury Deadlocked, Bill Cosby Sexual Assault Case Declared a Mistrial

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June 17 2017 11:10 AM

With Jury Deadlocked, Bill Cosby Sexual Assault Case Declared a Mistrial

Bill-Cosby-On-Trial-On-Three-Aggravated-Sexual-Assault-Charges
Bill Cosby exits the courtroom on the third day of jury deliberations in his sexual assault trial at the Montgomery County Courthouse on June 14, 2017 in Norristown, Penn.

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After five full days of deliberation left the jury in the Cosby sexual assault trial deadlocked on whether to convict the comedian on any of the three counts of felony aggravated indecent assault, the judge in the case declared a mistrial Saturday morning, putting an end to this round of the criminal proceeding. The trial was over the alleged 2004 drugging and sexual assault of Andrea Constand, a former employee Temple University, at Cosby’s Philadelphia home. Constand’s allegation was one of dozens sometimes decades-old accusations leveled at Cosby over the past several years.

Moments after Judge Steve T. O’Neill announced the mistrial in the Norristown, Penn. courthouse, the Montgomery County District Attorney, Kevin R. Steele, announced he would retry the case.

The three second-degree charges against the 79-year-old Cosby, each of which carries a minimum 5-year sentence, remain. Cosby’s attorneys maintained throughout the trial that the actor’s relationship with Constand was consensual. Amid the deluge of accusations that were unearthed over the past several years, Cosby admitted to giving numerous women drugs and having sexual relationships with them, which, he says, were consensual. More than 50 women came forward saying they were assaulted by Cosby. Out of court, Cosby’s lawyers countered the allegations saying they were attempts at extortion and efforts to bring those cases into a courtroom were thwarted by statute of limitations on the alleged crimes.

*This post has been updated with new video as it became available.