Bill Cosby Case Ends In Mistrial

NORRISTOWN, PA — The judge in the Bill Cosby case has declared a mistrial after a jury failed to come to a verdict after nearly a week of deliberations. The jury reportedly announced that it was "hopelessly deadlocked" before the Judge Steve O'Neill ruled on the mistrial. Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele announced that prosecutors would retry the case and a new trial date will be set.

Cosby was charged with three counts of aggravated indecent assault and has been accused of a long list of other accusations from women who said they were victimized by the comedian and entertainer.

Cosby's wife, Camille Cosby, called Steele "heinously and exploitively ambitious." Mrs. Cosby described the judge in the case as "hopelessly and arrogantly collaborating with the District Attorney." In the statement, Mrs. Cosby went on to attack the counsel for the accusers and the media.

Anticipation was building throughout the week at the Montgomery County Courthouse as hordes of journalists and other onlookers anxiously waited for a verdict. But it never came.

Cosby was able to walk out of court a free man, for now.

Cosby, 79, never took the stand, even though excerpts from his 2005 to 2006 depositions in a civil suit brought on by Constand were read aloud, according to the report. The jury played testimony in which Cosby said he gave Andrea Constand something with her wine before making sexual advances, NBC10 reports.

Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele closed the prosecution's case on Monday by describing Cosby as a calculating sexual predator who drugged and assaulted a woman in 2004 and then recast the attack as consensual and romantic, according to the report.

The defense rested its case on Monday afternoon after calling just one witness to the stand: the Cheltenham detective who led the investigation into Cosby in 2004.

Much of the jury's deliberations seemed to be focused on Cosby's words, especially his testimony from the 2005 civil suit filed by Constand which resulted in Cosby paying her an undisclosed sum. Jurors asked the court for clarification and context on several different occasions.

During its deliberations Monday, the jury reportedly asked the court for context regarding one of Cosby's more infamous quotes from his 2005 testimony. The jury had further clarification questions regarding that testimony on Tuesday as well.

The alleged incidents occurred in 2004 and were briefly investigated in 2005, but the investigation was dropped due to a lack of evidence by then-Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor.

Although more than 40 women have accused Cosby of some kind of sexual assault, Constand's case was the first to be brought this far along in the justice system. Most of his other accusers allege incidents that occurred in decades past, long enough ago that the statute of limitations has passed, meaning they cannot prosecute.

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