iStock/Thinkstock(PENNSYLVANIA) — A juror in the Bill Cosby sexual assault trial described how several people broke down in tears in the deliberation room as the jury struggled in vain to reach a consensus.
“The most intense moment I think was when there was about four people crying in the room. One was out in the hallway pacing, visibly upset,” said 21-year-old Bobby Dugan, one of the 12 jurors assigned to the case.
After more than five days and some 52 hours of deliberation, the jury couldn’t reach a unanimous decision, resulting in a mistrial.
Montgomery County, Pennsylvania District Attorney Kevin Steele has said that he plans to retry the case.
Cosby was charged in 2015 with three counts of felony aggravated indecent assault stemming from a 2004 encounter with Andrea Constand at his home in Pennsylvania.
She testified during the six-day trial that he gave her a drug that rendered her incapable of stopping his alleged assault, though she said she tried. Though he did not take the stand, he said in a decade-old deposition that he gave her Benadryl to “relax” her, and then the two had a consensual sexual encounter. He pleaded not guilty to the felony charges and denied wrongdoing in other accusations made against him.
Dugan said he initially didn’t believe Cobsy was guilty but was eventually swayed by, “people’s opinions and hearing their arguments.”
He said the turning point for him was, “when they were asking him if he would use the word ‘consent.’ He said: ‘I wouldn’t use that word.’ And I was like you pretty much said it there yourself, man.”
Nevertheless, in the end, Dugan said, “What it really comes down to is who are you going to believe more and that was all it was.”
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