Jury in Bill Cosby case reviews deposition testimony

The jury in the Bill Cosby sexual assault case on Tuesday wrapped up a second day of deliberation, one in which they drilled down on what the TV star said happened inside his suburban Philadelphia home and how he characterized his relationship with the Canadian accuser, as it weighs charges that could send him to prison for the rest of his life.

Jurors began their second day of deliberations by reviewing more than a dozen passages from a deposition Cosby gave last decade. They heard excerpts covering a wide range of topics, from Cosby's first meeting with Toronto's Andrea Constand to the night in 2004 she says he drugged and violated her.

As he described reaching into Constand's pants, Cosby testified, "I go into the area that is somewhere between permission and rejection. I am not stopped."​

Cosby is charged with drugging and molesting Constand, 44. His lawyer has said they were lovers sharing a consensual sexual encounter. Cosby testified in 2005 and 2006 as part of Constand's civil suit against him. The 79-year-old entertainer did not take the stand at his trial, but prosecutors used his deposition testimony as evidence. 

As they pored over Cosby's words, the jurors appeared to struggle with some language in one of the charges against him: "without her knowledge." The jury is considering three counts of felony aggravated indecent assault; the third count covers Cosby's alleged use of pills to impair Constand before groping her breast and genitals.

The jury asked about the phrasing Tuesday morning, but Judge Steven O'Neill said he couldn't define it for them.

'You do not try your case on the courthouse steps'

Outside the courthouse, Constand's lawyers blasted the Cosby team Tuesday for releasing a statement from a woman who had been blocked from testifying at the trial.

Cosby's spokesman, Andrew Wyatt, read the statement from longtime Temple University official Marguerite Jackson, who said Constand told her of a plan to falsely accuse a "high-profile person" of sexual assault so she could sue and get money.

Jackson said Constand told her she had been drugged and molested. She said the Temple basketball director immediately recanted, then said she could make a false accusation, win a lawsuit and use the money to go to school and open a business.

A judge blocked Jackson from taking the stand, ruling it would be hearsay. Constand said on the witness stand she did not know Jackson.

Constand's lawyer, Dolores Troiani, told reporters that Jackson is "not telling the truth" and faulted Wyatt for circulating Jackson's statement while jurors were deliberating.

"You do not try your case on the courthouse steps," Troiani said. "The statement was not accurate. It is not correct, and I can see only one purpose for him coming here to do that, and that is to defame our client, and that is the goal of Mr. Cosby and his publicist."

'He never shuts up'

The jury, sequestered for the duration of the trial and unaware of the back-and-forth outside, was keenly focused on what Cosby said about the pills he gave to Constand before their encounter.

For the second time in their deliberations, the jurors asked Tuesday to revisit a portion of the deposition in which the comedian talked about giving Constand "three friends."  

"She sat with her back to the kitchen wall," Cosby said. "And there was talk of tension, yes, about relaxation and Andrea trying to learn to relax the shoulders, the head, et cetera. And I went upstairs and I went into my pack and I broke one whole one and brought a half down and told her to take it."

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"Your friends," Cosby said he told her. "I have three friends for you to make you relax."

Cosby later told police the pills were Benadryl, an over-the-counter cold and allergy medicine. Constand — then an athletic, six-foot-tall college basketball staffer — said they made her dazed and groggy, and unable to say no or fight back when Cosby went inside her pants.

The defence insisted throughout the trial that Constand hid the fact they'd had a romantic relationship before the early 2004 encounter when she went to police a year later. Cosby, his lawyer said, never ran from talking to police, for better or worse.

"He never shuts up," lawyer Brian McMonagle said of his client in closing arguments Monday morning.

Cosby declines taking the stand

Nonetheless, the comedian whose storytelling artistry fuelled a $400 million fortune went quiet when he had the chance to take the stand, unwilling to risk cross-examination about his 60 other accusers if he denied ever drugging or molesting anyone.

Constand testified for more than seven hours last week, denying there was any romance between them and telling jurors she had rebuffed his advances before the assault.

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Authorities declined to charge Cosby when she first came forward in 2005, but a new district attorney reopened the case in 2015 after Cosby's deposition was unsealed at the request of the Associated Press.

The defence had tried repeatedly since Cosby's Dec. 30, 2015, arrest to have the case shut down, saying the charges were filed too late and the accusers were after money. They also complained that prosecutors improperly struck blacks from the jury chosen in Pittsburgh.

The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, which Constand has done.

The jury in Bill Cosby's sexual assault trial resumed deliberations on Tuesday. ​The 79-year-old comedian is charged with three counts of aggravated indecent assault. Each felony count carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.

A look at the sexual assault charges against Cosby and the punishment he could face if convicted.

What is Cosby accused of? 

He is accused of drugging and sexually violating a woman at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004. Andrea Constand says Cosby gave her pills that made her paralyzed and unable to fight him off as he groped her breast and genitals. His lawyers said they were in a romantic relationship and what happened was consensual. 

What is he charged with? 

Three counts of felony aggravated indecent assault, each covering a different aspect of the alleged crime.

Count 1 alleges that Cosby didn't have consent when he penetrated Constand's genitals with his fingers.

Count 2 alleges she was unconscious or semi-conscious at the time and could not give consent.

Count 3 alleges all this happened after he gave her an intoxicant that substantially impaired her and stopped her from resisting.

How much time could he face? 

Each of the three counts carries a sentence range of 5 to 10 years in prison.

That means a conviction on just one count could put Cosby in prison at least until he is 84 years old, based on state sentencing guidelines.

Pennsylvania judges seldom deviate from state sentencing guidelines, but they do have the power to decide whether a defendant serves the sentences for each count consecutively or at the same time.

If Cosby is convicted of multiple counts, some of the counts could be combined and handled as one count for sentencing.

What's the worst case scenario for Cosby?

He's convicted on all three counts, none of them merge and he's ordered to serve his sentences consecutively. That would mean he'd tally a maximum 15-30 years in prison.

Would he have to register as a sex offender?

Yes. If he is convicted, prosecutors say, Cosby would also have to register as a sex offender and face an assessment to determine if he is a sexually violent predator.

Would Cosby be hauled off in handcuffs right away?

If convicted, Cosby could remain free until sentencing unless Judge Steven O'Neill revokes his $1 million US bail.

Philadelphia defence lawyer Alan Tauber says that's less likely in Cosby's case because his fame makes him an unlikely flight risk.