Bill Cosby Sexual Assault Trial: Panel Was Leaning Towards Convicting Actor On Two Counts, Report Suggests

A juror in the Bill Cosby sexual assault case which ended in mistrial, said under the condition of anonymity that hours of deliberations led to 10 of the 12 jurors (seven men and five women) agreeing the 79-year-old comedian was guilty on two of the three charges of felony aggravated indecent assault.

In an exclusive interview with ABC News, the juror said the panel was leaning towards convicting Cosby on two counts. “A verdict is reached only when the jurors send back the completed verdict form and inform the judge they have reached a verdict. That did not happen here,” the juror said, according to the report Wednesday.

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The votes on the first count were 10 to 2 in favor of finding Cosby guilty of digitally penetrating his accuser Andrea Constand without her consent, the juror told ABC.

On the second count where the charge was for Constand being unconscious or unaware, the votes were 11 to 1 to exonerate while on the third count, which said Cosby drugged Constand without her knowledge, the votes were 10 to 2 in favor of a guilty verdict.

The 79-year-old actor is still facing the charges after Montgomery County Judge Steven O’Neill declared a mistrial Saturday but said there would be a re-trial. The mistrial was declared after the jury debated for about 52 hours without a verdict.

Cosby is accused of drugging and raping Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee, at his Pennsylvania mansion in 2004.

Following the mistrial, the Montgomery County judge agreed Wednesday to a petition filed by several media organizations wanting the names of the jurors released. It was on the condition their interaction with the media be limited, it was reported.

But Judge Steven O'Neill also ordered the jurors to not publicly discuss the deliberations that led to Saturday’s mistrial, the New York Times reported. He said the jurors would first be contacted by the concerned officials and instructed on what could and could not be said in front of the media, Time reported.

“Any disclosure of what was said and done during deliberations, in this case, would have a chilling effect upon the future jurors in this case and their ability to deliberate freely and to feel secure in the protection of their privacy during their sworn jury service. Further, future jurors will be reluctant to speak up to say what they think when deliberating if they fear that what they say during deliberations will not be kept secret,” O’Neill wrote in his court order.

Read: Andrea Constand Recalls Bill Cosby ‘Groping My Breasts Under My Shirt’ On Day 2 Of Sexual Assault Trial

“Withholding the names of the jurors in this case until the declaration of a mistrial was necessary to protect the privacy and confidentiality of the jurors with the ends of ensuring a fair and impartial trial,” O’Neill said.

The decision to release the names came after lawyers representing the news outlets argued the jurors’ names should be made public to ensure transparency in the judicial process, the report added.

On the other hand, prosecutors and defense lawyers maintained the identity of the jurors should be kept a secret. They said releasing the jurors’ names would make it difficult to select a jury in the second trial.

“Although jurors may choose to come forward to the media of their own volition, that should be their choice. In this case, there is a substantial probability that the rights of the parties to a fair trial will be prejudiced by the release of the names of the jurors from the recent mistrial,” Kevin R. Steele, the district attorney for Montgomery County in Pennsylvania said.