Jurors began their second day of deliberations Tuesday in Bill Cosby's trial for aggravated indecent assault -- a case closely watched by the public as well as the dozens of women who have accused Cosby of similar misconduct.
Prosecutors say the famed comedian drugged and sexually assaulted Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee, at his home near Philadelphia in January 2004. Cosby pleaded not guilty to three charges of aggravated indecent assault, a second-degree felony.
The jury of seven men and five women were bused in from Allegheny County near Pittsburgh and have been sequestered in a hotel for the trial. They began deliberating at 5:25 p.m. on Monday and continued for about four hours into the night, and they have asked two questions.
Cosby declined to testify in his own defense, and his attorneys only called one witness, a police detective who also testified for the prosecution. Prosecutors presented almost no forensic evidence, and legal experts have said the trial fits the "he said-she said" arguments so common to sexual offense cases.
The three charges accuse Cosby of assaulting Constand without her consent, assaulting her when she was unconscious, and assaulting her using drugs to substantially impair her ability to consent. He could face up to 10 years in prison for each charge.
'They're your friends'
Prosecutors called 12 witnesses over a week of testimony, and Constand was chief among them. In clear and firm terms, she said Cosby, a powerful Temple alum, mentored her and took an interest in her career like a father figure.
But when speaking about her career plans one night at his home, the sweater-wearing actor known as "America's Dad" gave her three blue pills that he said were herbal and would help her relax, she testified.
"Put them down, they're your friends. They'll take the edge off," Cosby told her, she testified. "I said 'I trust you.' I took the pills and I swallowed the pills down."
She became incapacitated and felt "frozen" and told him so, she testified. Cosby then placed her on the couch and sexually assaulted her without her consent, she said.
She woke up on the couch with her clothes disheveled, she said.
"I felt really humiliated and I was really confused," she said through tears. "I just wanted to go home."
Cosby lowered and shook his head in the courtroom as she spoke.
'I was mistaken'
Defense attorneys argued that the sexual contact was part of a consenting relationship between the two. In a tense cross-examination, defense attorneys pointed out that several of Constand's initial statements to police were later proved to be false, which they said undermine her credibility.
"I was really nervous and wasn't able to recall every particular moment that I had seen Mr. Cosby in order of dates," she explained.
Constand initially told police that she had not been alone with Cosby prior to the alleged assault and that they had little contact after. However, she testified that she had been alone in a hotel room with Cosby beforehand, and that there were 72 calls between the two afterward.
"I was mistaken," she said. "It was a lot of confusion putting a lot of dates together."
Jurors did hear Cosby's side of the story -- but not in his voice. Prosecutors and police detectives read aloud portions of Cosby's statements to police in 2005 and in a civil deposition in 2006. In those interviews, Cosby admitted to sexual contact with Constand. He said he gave her over-the-counter Benadryl and said they had previously had a romantic encounter.
In the civil deposition, he admitted that he had previously obtained prescriptions for Quaaludes, a powerful sedative, with the intention of giving the drugs to women with whom he wanted to have sex.
Prosecutors say his prior use of Quaaludes shows that Cosby had knowledge of what he was doing when he gave her the pills.
How we got here
Constand initially told police about the alleged assault in January 2005, a year after she says it took place. The district attorney at the time declined to press charges, citing insufficient evidence. She sued Cosby in a civil suit and settled for an undisclosed amount in 2006.
In late 2014, dozens of women went public with accusations that Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted them over the course of his lengthy comedic career. In July 2015, a judge unsealed Cosby's deposition in that 2006 civil lawsuit. His admissions in that deposition led Montgomery County prosecutors to file charges against him.
Though dozens of women have accused Cosby of sexual misconduct, only Constand's accusations led to criminal charges. One other accuser, Kelly Johnson, testified in the trial as prosecutors sought to establish that Cosby had a pattern of assault.
Johnson, who worked at the William Morris talent agency, said that Cosby gave her a pill that incapacitated her and then sexually assaulted her in 1996.
