A US judge declared a mistrial Saturday in Bill Cosby’s sexual assault case, after the jury deadlocked following more than 50 hours of deliberations over whether to convict the fallen TV star. .

The move amounts to a victory of sorts for the 79-year-old pioneering black actor, who had faced spending the rest of his life in prison if convicted on three counts of aggravated indecent assault against 44-year-old Andrea Constand at his Philadelphia mansion in January 2004.