Cosby jury to begin deliberating today

Cosby jury to begin deliberating today

NORRISTOWN, Pa.

The jury in Bill Cosby’s sexual-assault retrial will begin deliberating today after a full day of blistering closing arguments in which the comedian was variously portrayed as a calculating predator who is finally being brought to justice or the victim of a multimillion-dollar frame-up.

The judge sent the seven men and five women back to their hotel Tuesday evening after they indicated they were exhausted after listening to about 51/2 hours of arguments.

The first big celebrity trial of the #MeToo era pits Cosby, the 80-year-old former TV star whose career and good-guy reputation were destroyed by a barrage of allegations involving drugs and sex, against a former Temple University women’s basketball administrator who testified that he drugged her and sexually violated her at his suburban Philadelphia mansion 14 years ago.

Five other women got on the witness stand and testified the same thing had happened to them.

Meek Mill is freed after high-court order

PHILADELPHIA

Rapper Meek Mill walked out of prison Tuesday after Pennsylvania’s highest court ordered him freed while he appeals decade-old gun and drug convictions.

After a five-month campaign by his supporters to get him out, the state Supreme Court directed a Philadelphia judge who had jailed him to immediately issue an order releasing him on unsecured bail.

Mill was sentenced in November to 2 to 4 years in prison for probation violations.

McConaughey fears March for Our Lives will get ‘hijacked’

LAS VEGAS

A month after speaking at the March for Our Lives in his hometown of Austin, Texas, Matthew McConaughey says he supports some gun control but fears the youth-led movement could be “hijacked” by those hoping to eliminate all guns in the U.S.

McConaughey spoke about his support for the marchers Monday in Las Vegas, where he was promoting his upcoming film, “White Boy Rick,” at the CinemaCon theater-owners convention. The film, based on a true story, is set for a September release in theaters.

He called gun violence “an epidemic in our country.”

The 48-year-old Oscar winner said he hoped to find room for agreement between anti-gun activists and the NRA.

Associated Press