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Bill Cosby Trial: The Jurors Are Back and Deliberating Bill Cosby Trial: The Jurors Deliberate, the Star Waits
(35 minutes later)
• The jurors deliberated for more than four hours Monday without reaching a verdict. They are back at it on Tuesday. • The jurors deliberated for more than four hours Monday without reaching a verdict. They are back at it on Tuesday at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa.
• Mr. Cosby, 79, was at the courthouse for the whole day and did not leave until the jury was released around 9:30 p.m., is back in the courthouse as well. • Bill Cosby, 79, who has been at the courthouse each day, awaiting the verdict, has been a quiet presence at his trial.
• Andrea Constand, who says Mr. Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her at his home outside Philadelphia in 2004, sat in the front row of the courtroom at the Montgomery County Courthouse for much of Monday, listening to closing arguments. • Andrea Constand, who says Mr. Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her at his home outside Philadelphia in 2004, was also at the courthouse Tuesday, waiting for the verdict.
One development of the deliberations on Monday was that the panel asked Judge Steven T. O’Neill to clarify the context under which Mr. Cosby had described the three pills he gave Ms. Constand as “little friends.” The judge read back a section of Mr. Cosby’s deposition testimony from a 2005 lawsuit filed by Ms. Constand in which he had used that phrase. It was unclear what the jurors were seeking to clarify, although the phrase had figured prominently in the prosecution’s closing argument. One development of the deliberations on Monday was that the panel asked Judge Steven T. O’Neill to clarify the context in which Mr. Cosby had described the three pills he gave Ms. Constand as “little friends.” The judge read aloud a section of Mr. Cosby’s deposition testimony from a 2005 lawsuit filed by Ms. Constand in which he had used that phrase. It was unclear what the jurors were seeking to clarify, although the phrase had figured prominently in the prosecution’s closing argument.
On Tuesday, at jurors’ request, the judge read out other excerpts from Mr. Cosby’s deposition testimony, in particular, in Mr. Cosby’s own words, how he met Ms. Constand, and in graphic detail his version of the encounters at his home near Philadelphia. On one occasion, they had sexual contact, he said, and then she stopped him from going further, he said. On a later night, in 2004, he gave her pills that she said incapacitated her. He described them in the deposition testimony as Benadryl. On Tuesday, at the jurors’ request, the judge read other excerpts from Mr. Cosby’s deposition testimony, in particular, in Mr. Cosby’s own words, how he met Ms. Constand, and in graphic detail his version of the encounters at his home near Philadelphia. On one occasion, they had sexual contact, he said, and then she stopped him from going further. On a later night, in 2004, he gave her pills that she said incapacitated her. He described them in the deposition testimony as Benadryl.
Ms. Constand sued Mr. Cosby after prosecutors in 2005 decided not to bring charges against Mr. Cosby in connection with what Ms. Constand said had been the 2004 assault. The prosecutors revisited that decision in 2015 after Mr. Cosby’s deposition from that case surfaced and they read that he acknowledged having secured quaaludes in an effort to have sex with women. Ms. Constand sued Mr. Cosby after prosecutors in 2005 decided not to bring charges against Mr. Cosby in connection with what Ms. Constand said had been an assault in 2004. The prosecutors revisited that decision in 2015 after Mr. Cosby’s deposition from that case surfaced and they read where he acknowledged having secured quaaludes to have sex with women.
Mrs. Cosby had not been in the courthouse for the first week, but showed up on Monday, smiling and walking with her husband outside. During closing arguments, Mr. Cosby’s lead lawyer, Brian J. McMonagle, made a point of emphasizing her attendance, calling attention as he chastised Mr. Cosby for infidelities at odds with his relationship with Mrs. Cosby, to whom he has been married for more than 50 years. She left during the afternoon and did not return. For someone once so broadly feted and outspoken, the image he presents each day in court, sitting quietly at a table near the front, is at striking odds with the glow that once used to surround him. His manifest charm as an entertainer seldom flashes. His face is impassive even as graphic descriptions of his sexual encounters are read aloud.
The panel was released at 9:30 p.m. and was told to be back at the courthouse to resume by 9 a.m. “They want to go home for the night,” Judge O’Neill said as he announced that the deliberations would end for the night. Some of that may be a simple function of age for Mr. Cosby, who is 79, and fighting blindness. Some of that is a measure of what confronts him.
The judge said that he would normally have worked longer, but that the jurors had been in the courtroom for 13 hours. He said the jurors, who are being sequestered for the duration of the trial, should not continue any discussions among themselves. For someone once so popular, the number of supporters who have come to Norristown, Pa., to be with him has been modest. A star from the “Cosby Show” days. Two fellow comedians. Some friends from Temple University, where he was once a trustee. A former chairwoman of the United States Commission on Civil Rights who described him as a friend. Shoulder to shoulder they have sat in the front row to show support. But this week they stopped coming.
“No information out, no information in,” he said. The most important supporter, his wife, Camille, appeared in court on Monday. She walked in after he was seated, and then moved along the front row so she could see him past the lawyers and aides. When the judge called the morning session to a close, she walked quickly into the front area, leaned over her husband as he sat in his chair, tending to him. But she was gone in the afternoon and has not returned.
Mr. Cosby then retired for the night as well, looking weary as he was guided from the courthouse by his spokesman, Andrew Wyatt. But he managed a smile on his way out. He often greets them warmly, sometimes with an embrace, a pat on the back, a smile, a joke. They were the only ones there for him on Tuesday, the jury’s second day of deliberations.
As the courtroom emptied, Ms. Constand left too, and greeted Barbara Bowman, another Cosby accuser who attended the proceedings on Monday. Sitting near him, though, was Ms. Constand, in the front row on the opposite of the room. Their line of sight between each other is broken, it seems, by a large projector screen set up to help jurors. So even if he could see, she would be hidden from him. During testimony last week, she looked down from the stand and identified him as the man she said drugged and assaulted her. He didn’t react.
At rare moments, though, Mr. Cosby manages to respond to the crowds outside the courthouse, waving his cane, pretending to stumble, still an entertainer, still Fat Albert’s creator: “Hey, hey, hey.”