Prosecutors in Bill Cosby’s sexual assault trial gave their closing arguments and jury deliberations began on Monday at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown.
Cosby’s future is now in the hands of the 12-person jury of seven men and five women, who are determining whether or not Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted former Temple employee Andrea Constand in his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004. During this time, she was still employed by the university and Cosby was still a trustee.
Cosby, 79, could serve 10 years in prison for the charges of three counts of aggravated indecent assault, making it possible the comedian and alumnus could be in prison for the rest of his life.
Monday’s closing arguments finished out Day 6 of Cosby’s criminal trial. Although Constand is one of more than 60 women who have come forward accusing Cosby of sexually assaulting them throughout his career, Constand’s case is the only one that did not fall within the statute of limitations for Pennsylvania state law.
In his final arguments, Defense Attorney Brian McMonagle told the jury that the 2004 encounter was consensual and that Cosby and Constand were lovers, the Associated Press reported. McMonagle added that Cosby’s “romantic interludes” with Constand were examples of Cosby being disloyal to his wife, but he didn’t commit any crimes.
Earlier in the day Monday, the defense called only one witness to the stand. The witness, who was a detective, gave six minutes of testimony, the Associated Press reported.
The witness, Richard Schaffer, had been called to the stand for the prosecution as well, but gave new information at the defense’s line of questioning. Schaffer said he knew Constand had earlier visited Cosby at a casino, according to the Associated Press. Schaffer added that police knew of Cosby’s vision issues for more than a decade.
Cosby was not called to the stand to give his testimony by the defense.
The jury continues to deliberate past 8 p.m. on Monday, according to a tweet by an Associated Press reporter.
Gillian McGoldrick can be reached at gillian.mcgoldrick@temple.edu or on Twitter @gill_mcgoldrick.
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