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Some of the jurors look tired, and less than happy to still be in the Montgomery County Courthouse. They lie back in their chairs, and when they do, the guessing starts. “They must be for conviction.” Or not.
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Matt Slocum/Associated Press
Not everyone in the gallery can see all the jurors because of a large projector screen placed in front of them. Others get a cricked neck trying.
Some jurors pay close attention while another juror might stare at the portraits on the wall or up at a chandelier, anywhere but at the court reporter rereading evidence. An exchange of glances between jurors can be interpreted many ways by those in the courtroom looking for any hint of how the panel is leaning. There seemed to be a few knowing nods among jurors when testimony about the nature of the pills Ms. Constand took was reread. “That must mean it’s the issue that’s dividing them.” Or maybe not.
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Was their race an issue? Maybe their age? Would an older woman be less sympathetic to the younger Ms. Constand, or more? The scowl of another woman juror suggested she had to be a holdout, surely. But it’s a guessing game, no one really knows. The jurors are anonymous. They haven’t spoken out and the questions they have asked the judge do not do much to suggest which way they are heading.
Juries in other celebrity cases have deliberated longer.
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Pool photo by
The jury that acquitted the actor Robert Blake in the murder of his wife deliberated for nine days in 2005. But the Cosby jury is now entering territory in which the deliberations can certainly be considered unusually lengthy.
Still undecided is how long Judge O’Neill will ask the jurors to try. All the jurors are from Allegheny County, some 300 miles from Norristown, and living in a hotel, away from work, from loved ones. Sunday is Father’s Day. But a lot of work has been put into the trial by both sides. A lot is riding on the verdict. The defendant is 79. Ms. Constand is seeking to close a chapter in her life that opened 13 years ago. Memories seldom benefit from the passage of time.
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