Bill Cosby trial: Jury deadlocked, judge orders them to keep trying to reach a verdict

NORRISTOWN, Pa. - The jury in Bill Cosby's sexual assault trial informed the judge late Thursday morning that it is deadlocked on all three counts of aggravated indecent assault against the 79-year-old comedian. Judge Steven T. O'Neill ordered the jurors to return to jury room to keep trying.

It was a dramatic turn of events in a trial entering its ninth day, including four days of deliberations. The note explaining the status of the jury's deliberations was time-stamped 11:06 a.m. - minutes after the jurors passed the 30-hour mark in deliberations that began Monday afternoon and have been marked by complaints of exhaustion. The jurors did not elaborate about the reasons for the deadlock, simply saying in a one-sentence note that, 'We cannot come to a unanimous consensus on any of the counts.”

The jurors were stonefaced as they entered the courtroom for the reading of their note. One juror, a man who appears to be in his late-20s or early-30s, stepped into the jury box with his arms crossed in apparent frustration. He held his chin in his hand while the judge spoke.

O'Neill, the judge overseeing the case, read a set of standard charging instructions nudging the jury to keep working. He reminded them that they have a 'duty to consult with one another” in hopes of reaching a verdict.

Cosby knit his fingers, working his hands into a ball that he held in front of his mouth as the contents of the note were read in court by O'Neill. Moments after the jury was sent back for another try at reaching a verdict, Cosby walked out of the courtroom on the arm of his publicist. There was a smile on his face.