>
Article snippet: As the jury’s deliberations extended into this weekend, the possibility of a verdict in declared a mistrial on Saturday morning after the jury said it was hopelessly deadlocked, some criminal law experts who had been closely following the proceedings suggested that the conclusion was hardly unexpected. Several pointed to inconsistencies in statements made by the woman at the center of the case, Andrea Constand, who said Mr. Cosby had disabled her with a powerful drug and then sexually assaulted her at his home outside Philadelphia in 2004. Others pointed to the strength of Mr. Cosby’s defense lawyer, Brian J. McMonagle, whose team argued that the sexual interaction between Mr. Cosby and Ms. Constand had been consensual. In his closing argument, Mr. McMonagle acknowledged that Mr. Cosby might not have been a faithful husband, but said that this was not a crime. Still others said the jury might have believed that Mr. Cosby was a sexual predator — more than 40 women have come forward with sexual assault accusations against him — but that they could not convict him based on the facts of this specific case. The jury’s inability to reach a unanimous verdict also pointed to the difficulties of trying sexual assault cases, particularly one brought against such a well-known celebrity so many years later, some experts said. In the end, they said, the case came down to one of “he said, she said,” about an interaction that occurred more than a decade ago, and the jury could ... Link to the full article to read more