Jurors have asked for the eighth clarification during their deliberation in Bill Cosby’s criminal trial Friday afternoon, which has lasted for almost 45 hours. Deliberations will resume this afternoon.
Jurors asked to rehear Andrea Constand’s testimony about phone call records between her and Cosby, said Shari Botwin, a trauma therapist, who was inside the courtroom at the Montgomery County Courthouse.. The defense made a motion for a mistrial again due to the length of deliberations, but O’Neill denied the motion because the jury is actively deliberating, she added.
In an email, a court official wrote that the jury will break for lunch in the afternoon and return to court to have their eighth question addressed.
Jurors started the day asking a seventh question just 30 minutes into deliberation.
They asked to rehear part of Bill Cosby’s deposition from 2005 and for the definition of “reasonable doubt,” Botwin said Friday morning.
O’Neill reread Cosby’s deposition in which the comedian stated he would give women quaaludes when he wanted to have sex with them. O’Neill then redefined “reasonable doubt” to the jurors.
Thursday night, O’Neill dismissed jurors after nearly 12 hours of deliberation. Earlier that day, jurors announced they were deadlocked and could not come to a unanimous decision on any of the three counts against Cosby.
Cosby is charged with three counts of aggravated sexual assault against Andrea Constand, a former Temple employee. Cosby was a trustee at the time of the alleged assault.
Jurors made no inclination of which side they are leaning toward. Cosby could face five to ten years in prison for each of the three counts against him.
Kelly Brennan can be reached at kelly.brennan@temple.edu or on Twitter @_kellybrennan. Follow on Twitter @TheTempleNews.
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