NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Bill Cosby’s sexual assault trial ended in a hung jury on Saturday because two holdouts refused to convict the 79-year-old comedian after 52 hours of tense deliberations, a juror told ABC News on Wednesday.
The juror, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the jury couldn’t reach a consensus after voting 10-2 to convict on the first and third counts and 11-1 to acquit on the second count.
The two holdouts were “not moving, no matter what,” the juror told the network.
At first, the juror said, the majority sided with acquitting Cosby on all three counts of aggravated indecent assault.
ABC published the interview after Judge Steven O’Neill ordered the public release of the jurors’ names, granting a request by a dozen media organizations, including The Associated Press and the major TV networks.
O’Neill warned jurors not to divulge what fellow jurors said during deliberations.
The Associated Press tried contacting jurors for comment Wednesday but wasn’t immediately able to reach any of them.
The juror who spoke to ABC said tensions were high as deliberations wore on in a cramped back room at a century-old courthouse outside Philadelphia. One juror punched a wall in frustration, the juror said.
“If we kept going, there was definitely going to be a fight. They had five sheriff’s deputies at the door and they could hear us and they kept coming in because they thought we were already fighting.”
The jury was selected from the Pittsburgh area and spent two weeks sequestered 300 miles from home.
Prosecutors plan to retry the 79-year-old Cosby on charges he drugged and molested a woman at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004. Cosby said the encounter with Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee, was consensual.
According to the juror who spoke to ABC, the majority of jurors wanted to convict Cosby of counts alleging he lacked consent when he penetrated Constand’s genitals with his fingers and that he gave her an intoxicant that substantially impaired her and stopped her from resisting.
The juror said all but one juror wanted to acquit Cosby on the other count, alleging Constand was unconscious or semi-conscious at the time and could not give consent.
Lawyers for news outlets had argued that jurors’ names should be public to ensure transparency in the judicial process. Prosecutors and defense lawyers had argued they should remain secret, saying releasing them would make it more difficult to select a jury in Cosby’s second trial.
The judge cited the media’s First Amendment rights and Supreme Court precedent in ordering the release of the names. But he forbade jurors from talking about what other members of the jury said in the deliberating room or from revealing any votes cast in the case.
The judge plans to hold Cosby’s second trial in the next four months.
The AP does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, which Constand has done.
Featured Image: AP Photo/Matt Rourke
