New Trial for Bill Cosby Will Be Set Following Declaration of a Mistrial
Following the jurors' declaration of a deadlock after six days of deliberations, Bill Cosby's sexual assault case ended unsettled. On Saturday, the judge in charge declared a mistrial and said the actor in question would be tried again.
The once renowned entertainer was tried for the alleged rape of Andrea Constand. Aside from Constand, several other women have also accused the actor of sexually abusing them for decades. Following a series of complaints against him, he had to face three felony charges of second-degree aggravated indecent assault. Due to the judge's declaration of a mistrial, however, Cosby was spared from what could have been a decade of incarceration.
The decision came after around 52 hours of deliberation by the jury in Norristown, Pennsylvania—longer than the time it took for both the defense and prosecution to present their respective cases. Prior to the said deliberation, Judge Steven O'Neill said the case was deadlocked and asked the court to try deliberating again. After two days of looking into the case, however, the jurors failed to come up with a unanimous verdict on the case.
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According to O'Neill, the inconclusive end of the trial does not mean that neither of the two camps would receive vindication, as a new trial will be set in a few months. Meanwhile, Montgomery County's District Attorney Kevin R. Steele said Constand is "entitled to a verdict" in the case so there has to be another trial. "We will take a hard look at everything involved and then we will retry it," he said.
Steele has four months to decide whether he wants to pursue the new trial with the same set of jurors or a new one. Meanwhile, O'Neill made it a point to say that a mistrial does not absolve Cosby from the charges. According to him, he made the former entertainer understand that a mistrial meant he could be tried again.
