Constand won a national title with the University of Arizona and played in a pro league in Europe before landing a job with the Temple University women's basketball team. It was at Temple she met Cosby, a member of the board of trustees.



With the jury struggling to find common ground, some of the other women who have accused Cosby of sexual assault confronted sign-waving Cosby supporters gathered on the courthouse steps to await the outcome. But the atmosphere remained calm, with accusers and supporters even holding hands at times.



Cosby's spokesman Wyatt invited a family of four supporters to meet with the comedian inside the courthouse Thursday night. Wyatt said he believed a chat with the couple and their 14-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter would brighten Cosby's spirits.



Dozens of women have come forward to say Cosby had drugged and assaulted them, but this was the only case to result in criminal charges.



The 12-member jury must come to a unanimous decision to convict or acquit. If the panel can't break the deadlock, the judge could declare a hung jury and a mistrial. In that case, prosecutors would get four months to decide whether they want to retry the TV star or drop the charges.



University of Pennsylvania law professor David Rudovsky, a criminal lawyer in Philadelphia, said Thursday that the jurors' inability to agree on a verdict didn't surprise him, given the nature of a case that boiled down to Cosby's word against his accuser's and the legal meaning of consent.



He added a hung jury would be a victory for Cosby.



"In most criminal cases, anything short of a conviction is a win for the defense," said Rudovsky, who isn't involved in the case. "It doesn't surprise me that this jury is split. The prosecution had a strong case, but the defense was able to show a lot of inconsistencies."

The jurors have appeared increasingly tired and upset as deliberations dragged on for nearly 40 hours over four days. Some of them looked defeated as the judge sent them back to the jury room. One, more upbeat, nodded along.



The jury, bused in from the Pittsburgh area, has paused a half-dozen times to revisit key evidence, including Cosby's decade-old admissions that he fondled Constand after giving her pills.