Actor Bill Cosby will again stand trial for the alleged sexual assault of a lesbian, after jurors this summer failed to render a verdict in the high-profile case.
Montgomery County Judge Steven O’Neill last week ordered Cosby’s retrial to begin Nov. 6. O’Neill presided over the 11-day trial last month, at the end of which jurors said they were “hopelessly” deadlocked; O’Neill declared a mistrial after more than 50 hours of juror deliberations.
O’Neill did not announce yet if jurors will again come from out of the area; jurors in the initial trial were brought in from Allegheny County, a move prompted by the notoriety of Cosby’s case in the local area. Cosby is a resident of Elkins Park and alum of Temple University.
It was at Temple that Cosby met Andrea Constand, the accuser in the case. Constand is a former basketball coach at the North Philadelphia university who said she considered Cosby her mentor. She was at Cosby’s house in 2004 when she says he gave her pills to relax that incapacitated her and he then sexually assaulted her.
Cosby was charged with three counts of aggravated indecent sexual assault. More than 50 other women have also come forward with similar allegations, but Constand’s is the only case that led to criminal charges.
Constand’s sexual orientation was not addressed at trial.
Cosby remains free on $1-million bail.