Bill Cosby may have been released from prison after his sexual assault conviction was overturned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, but his legal woes are far from over. For the past two weeks, the disgraced comedian’s bad behavior has been the talk of the Santa Monica Supreme Court in California. That’s where, according to Variety, 12 jurors are currently working to reach a verdict in a civil case brought against Cosby by Judy Huth, a 64-year-old woman who claims that Cosby molested her in 1975, when she was just 16 years old.
Closing arguments in the case were made on Wednesday, and the jury is currently deliberating; nine of the 12 jurors will need to be in agreement in order for a verdict to be reached. On Thursday, jurors asked a handful of questions that have led to some speculation about where in the deliberation process they may be, and which issues they may be stuck on. As Gene Maddaus wrote for Variety:
The jurors’ questions suggested they had considered many of the issues they were asked to decide. In one question, the jury asked how many had to agree on a damages award—suggesting that they could be inclined to award Huth some amount of damages…
The jurors also asked for definitions of a few terms on the verdict forms. In one instance, they asked what it meant to decide that Cosby had an “unnatural or abnormal sexual interest” in a child—one of the elements Huth’s lawyers must prove in order to prevail. Judge Craig Karlan responded that state law holds that any sexual interest in a child is unnatural.
Jennifer Bonjean, Cosby’s lawyer, objected to Karlan’s answer, and warned that it could become a point of contention should Cosby—who is not in attendance—lose the case and decide to appeal.
(Via Variety)