NORRISTOWN, Pa. _ Jurors in Bill Cosby's sexual assault trial reported Thursday that they were at an impasse after more than 30 hours of deliberations over four days.
Montgomery County Judge Steven T. O'Neill instructed the panel of seven men and five women to keep pressing for a unanimous decision.
"While you should not hesitate to re-examine your own views or change your opinion if your opinion is erroneous, do not feel compelled to surrender your honest belief," he told the panel. "If after further deliberations, you are still deadlocked on some or all the charges, you should report that to me."
The jurors sent the note announcing their deadlock just after 11 a.m. As their debate has dragged since Monday, some have shown increasing signs of fatigue during their brief appearances in the Norristown courtroom.
Citing the impasse, Cosby's defense team immediately asked for a mistrial. O'Neill rejected the request, and, after the jury had left the room, told prosecutors and the defense team he was not going to put a time limit on deliberations.
"It's simply inappropriate at this time," the judge said, "no matter how long it has been."
As the jury resumed their talks, Cosby spokesman Andrew Wyatt and Gloria Allred, who represents several Cosby accusers in other cases, traded competing narratives about what the impasse means.
Wyatt pounced on the news as a positive sign. "Deadlock is a deadlock. We can call it a win," he declared to reporters. "When the Golden State Warriors beat the Cavs, that was a win. A win is a win."
But Allred stressed no one should read into the jurors' announcement. "This is not a vindication of anybody," she said. "This is not the end. It's not over until it's over. And it's not over yet."
Although Cosby left the courtroom looking stoic and without commenting, his spokesman said the entertainer "is just happy to know that he has 12 people of his peers who understand that the facts of this case don't add up."
Outside the courthouse, supporters broke into a chant of "Free him now!" while other accusers not involved in this case cried and spoke about their alleged assaults.
After three days and 28 hours of debate, the panel had asked to revisit nearly every critical piece of evidence from the trial that began nearly two weeks ago _ ranging from Cosby's 2005 deposition and police statement, in which he denied drugging and molesting the case's central accuser, Andrea Constand, to Constand's own recollections of the 2004 night she said he attacked her.
O'Neill's instruction to the group to keep working was delivered as part of what is known in Pennsylvania as a "Spencer Charge" _ a last admonition to the jury that it is important to reach whatever verdict it can in a given case.
It is not uncommon for stuck jurors to report an impasse and then reach a verdict later after being asked to return to the jury room. If they continue to disagree, however, the judge would call a mistrial. Should that happen, it is not yet clear whether prosecutors would seek to retry Cosby.
Jurors showed little reaction to the judge's instruction. But some of Cosby's accusers, women who have attended the trial or been on watch for the verdict, left the courtroom in tears.
Around 2 p.m., with the jurors still deliberating, Constand tweeted a video of herself shooting hoops from an office in the courthouse. The video ended with the message: "Always follow through."
If convicted, Cosby, 79, could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison for each count of aggravated indecent assault he faces.
