This was neither a vindication nor a victory. So went the judge’s warning to a weary crowd drifting out of a courthouse in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania more than five days after a 12-member jury began to deliberate Bill Cosby’s fate.



The mistrial was an uncertain coda to what started as one of the biggest trials of the decade. Cosby, a world-famous comedian, had seen his reputation shredded when more than 50 women accused him of rape and sexual assault, often aided by incapacitating drugs. A public with an evolved understanding of rape – a crime in which victims can take years to come forward – had turned on him.

In late 2015, to great surprise, Cosby found himself facing possible prison time for a crime he was alleged to have committed a decade earlier. Prosecutors charged him with three counts of aggravated indecent assault for an alleged attack on Andrea Constand, making Cosby one of the most famous people ever to be charged for a crime of sexual violence.

So what does it mean now that his trial – on the only criminal charges he is ever likely to face – has ended in a swirl of uncertainty?

The mistrial does not signal an end to Cosby’s legal woes. Immediately after Judge O’Neill declared a mistrial, Montgomery County district attorney Kevin Steele announced that his office would retry Cosby on the same charges.

Furthermore, the prosecution’s doggedness has led some victims’ advocates to say the trial could encourage more victims of sexual assault to come forward.

“Anyone who is in the position of having been victimized in a sexual violence case is going to feel encouraged by a guilty verdict and discouraged by a not guilty verdict,” said Teresa Garvey, a retired New Jersey prosecutor and an adviser to Aequitas, a group that assists prosecutors who are trying sex crimes.

“But what I also saw on this case was a prosecution team that really went the last mile to support this victim.”



Prosecutors fought hard to keep the defense from interrogating Constand’s background, under Pennsylvania’s rape shield law, and called an expert who testified that Constand’s behavior after the alleged assault – her inconsistent memory, her delay in speaking to police – could be explained by the trauma of being assaulted. They also called a toxicologist to corroborate Constand’s testimony about the effects of the pills that Cosby gave her.

“All of that evidence takes some of the burden off any victim that comes forward,” said Garvey. “When you know this is how your case is going to be handled – that the case is not going to rest entirely on your shoulders, it’s not going to be just a he-said, she-said – I think that’s going to be very encouraging for victims.”

In a statement, Kristin Houser of the National Sexual Violence Resource Center echoed district attorney Steele, who said Constand’s appearance in court had achieved much despite the ultimate mistrial.

“The high standard of evidence required for criminal convictions is one reason why the criminal justice system cannot be the only avenue for sexual assault survivors to seek justice,” Houser said. “It remains important for victims to be given the opportunity to tell their stories and for individuals and organizations to better respond to sexual violence and create safer environments.”

It remains important for victims to be given the opportunity to tell their stories Kristen Houser, National Sexual Violence Resource Center

However, the jury’s marathon deliberations, which at 52 hours wore on longer than the trial itself, mean Cosby’s prosecution could become best remembered for creating a whorl of uncertainty.

While Constand projected confidence on the witness stand, her cross-examination nevertheless revealed inconsistencies in her recollection of an assault. Questions asked by the jury during their week of deliberations suggested that members struggled to define her credibility.

The panel spent no time reviewing the testimony of Kelly Johnson. Johnson gave a wrenching account about a day on which she claims Cosby drugged and molested her. Attorneys for Cosby offered evidence that she had inconsistently stated the year in which she was assaulted.

The same challenges could frustrate 10 other women who hope to face Cosby in court, as many of their allegations are decades old. Judy Huth and Chloe Goins, two California women who claim Cosby assaulted them at the Playboy mansion in separate incidents, are suing in civil court. Huth claims Cosby forced her to perform oral sex when she was 15 years old; Goins that Cosby drugged and assaulted her when she was 18.

Eight women – Barbara Bowman, the supermodel Janice Dickinson, Tamara Green, Angela Leslie, Louisa Moritz, Therese Serignese, Joan Tarshis and Linda Traitz – are suing Cosby for defamation. Each has publicly accused Cosby of sexual assault or rape, which the comedian has denied.

Huth’s case will commence in California later this month. Prosecutors declined to try Cosby on Goins’ allegations because of a lack of corroborating evidence, and for most other accusers the statute of limitations has ended.

A public reckoning

In late 2014, just as Cosby was planning a triumphant return to television with a new sitcom and a comedy special, the comedian Hannibal Buress performed a bit about the many rape accusations against Cosby. A clip of the performance went viral.

In a sudden onslaught, dozens of new accusers emerged, their claims ushering Cosby into a new realm of fame: that of celebrities accused of sexually violating women with impunity. The scale of the accusations quickly became unprecedented.

For decades, Cosby was beloved: a successful stand-up comedian, a charming primetime performer in his hit sitcom The Cosby Show. He was hailed for breaking barriers. In 1965, Cosby became the first black actor to lead a network drama. His sitcom, which began airing in 1984 and ran until 1992, was the most popular show ever to feature a primarily black cast. Cosby’s characters eschewed stereotypes common to black characters on many network shows at the time.

If any controversy followed Cosby in those years, it involved his politics. Post-Cosby Show, he promoted the view that black parents’ approach to child-raising was responsible for high rates of violent crime, incarceration and poverty. At the same time, he was taking on the status of an elder statesman of entertainment. In 2002, President George W Bush awarded him the presidential medal of freedom.

“Bill Cosby has contributed more to comedy, television, education and humanitarian causes than any person I know,” read a blurb, later withdrawn, that David Letterman contributed to a 2014 biography.

And yet, in the telling of dozens of women who accused him of heinous assaults, Cosby was hiding a streak of sexual violence.

Women who entered Cosby’s orbit as early as the 1960s have claimed he groped, assaulted or raped them, often after drugging their drinks. Many were young women embarking on careers in showbusiness, as secretaries or aspiring performers. Others included a flight attendant and a waitress.

The pace at which these accusations became public showed how attitudes toward accusers have shifted. At first, the allegations came in a trickle. Lachele Covington, an actor, reported to police in 2000 that Cosby had placed her hand under his clothing. Police did not question Cosby, having determined that the touching was consensual until Covington pulled her hand away.

Constand went to police in January 2005, prompting two more women to publicly accuse of Cosby assault. By the end of 2006, six more women – some of whom withheld their names – had claimed in the press that Cosby violated them.

Then, silence descended. Prosecutors declined to charge Cosby based on Constand’s report; Cosby settled a civil suit with Constand out of public view; and the accusations of the eight other women did not inspire public outcry. Cosby continued to collect accolades, such as the Kennedy Center’s Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. By 2014, he was preparing a return to NBC primetime.

In those years, however, public attitudes on sexual assault had shifted. A movement, helped by college students demanding stronger enforcement against campus rape, had cultivated a new public concept of what sexual assault looks like and what can compel victims to react to an assault strangely or with silence.

So in 2014, when Buress made his crack about Cosby, it tapped into well of public outrage that has not yet run dry.