(AP) — The judge at Bill Cosby’s sexual assault trial is bristling at repeated defense requests for a mistrial as the jury asks to re-hear yet more testimony on its fifth day of deliberations.
Judge Steven O’Neill said Friday that he’ll let jurors work as long as they want as they try resolving a deadlock that threatened to end the case without a verdict.
After a lunch break, jurors are expected to rehear testimony from accuser Andrea Constand and her mother about phone calls with Cosby.
O’Neill criticized the Cosby team for what he says is a “misperception that there’s a time limit” on how long deliberations can last.
Cosby lawyer Brian McMonagle argued the court was “being asked to review the entire trial” with the jury’s repeated requests to rehear testimony.
Meanwhile, Bill Cosby is thanking his fans and supporters as a jury considers sexual assault charges that could send him to prison for the rest of his life.
Cosby tweeted the message on Friday shortly after jurors asked to review his lurid testimony about giving quaaludes to women he wanted to have sex with. The 79-year-old TV star said in a 2006 deposition that he got seven prescriptions for the powerful sedative in the 1970s for the purpose of giving them to women before sex.
Cosby is charged with drugging and molesting a woman at his home in 2004. He has said he gave Benadryl to Andrea Constand before their sexual encounter. Prosecutors have suggested he might have given her quaaludes
Cosby says his sexual encounter with Constand was consensual.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. (Photo: CNN)
