NORRISTOWN, Pa.—When the judge announced Thursday that jurors in the Bill Cosby trial were deadlocked, first there was silence. Shock from the women in the courtroom who have said that Cosby also drugged and assaulted them. Quiet pleasure from the Cosby supporters. And eventually flurries of typing and tweeting from reporters. The courthouse steps were silent when I walked out minutes later to get lunch, but it was a tense silence. A phalanx of cameras waited for anyone who came outside, something like a slalom lined with camera lenses shoved in your face. Even walking through it was uncomfortable, dozens of glaring, digital eyes peering into you.
When I went back an hour later, the cameras were scattered everywhere capturing whatever pockets of anger they could grab. The confrontation between Lili Bernard and Cosby supporters was over but the emotions, on a boiling hot day, had spilled over. Cosby supporters were giving interviews. The group of women who said Cosby drugged and assaulted them—several have sat through every day of the trial—gave their own interviews. Everyone was angry. The tense energy finally broke when two drummers appeared saying nothing, circling the courthouse. As happens when there’s a visual, especially one with music, all the cameras went to them.
When it was over, almost all of the chaos was gone. But through it all, from the height of the confrontations to the drummers to after everyone had moved on, Jewel Allison stayed on the steps, focusing on one person, a young woman from Philadelphia. Allison has said Cosby drugged her and then forced him to touch his genitals. The woman, Zakia Tuck, 27, of Philadelphia, was holding a sign in support of Cosby, saying “Mr. Cosby is innocent facts!!!” Allison was not deterred.
Reporters came and went, getting their videos, quotes, and tweets. Allison did not budge. She did not let go of Tuck’s hand, and Tuck stayed.