On Saturday, a Pennsylvania judge granted a mistrial after the jury had announced that they were deadlocked for the second time in the trial of Bill Cosby.
However, Judge Steven T. O'Neill ruled that jurors are not permitted to discuss the opinions of their fellow jurors. "Jurors shall not disclose arguments or comments made, or votes case, by fellow jurors during deliberations". O'Neill plans to hold the retrial within four months.
Cosby's prosecutors argued in court filings that "the release of the names of the jurors from the recent mistrial. may make the parties' ability to select a (new) fair and impartial jury more hard".
Prosecutors are fighting to keep the jurors' identities a secret, arguing in court documents Monday that releasing them would result in a "publicity onslaught" and make picking a jury for the second trial more hard.
Constand, 44, of Toronto, accused the ageing comedian of drugging and molesting her at his home near Philadelphia in 2004, when she worked at his alma mater, Temple University.
After 52 hours of tense deliberations, two holdouts in Bill Cosby's sexual assault trial refused to convict the 79-year-old comedian, a juror told ABC News.
A Montgomery County judge ruled Wednesday that the jurors' names would be released once the seven men and five women were informed of a few ground rules.
"O" Neill cited a possible "chilling effect" on new jurors as the reasoning behind his hesitant decision, and instructed the jurors they could not "disclose anything said or done in the jury room" by anyone other than themselves.
The only criminal case in the country against the actor because of the Keystone State's longer-than-usual statute of limitations for sex crimes, Cosby's trial started on June 5 and ended June 12.
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Judge Steven O'Neill declared a mistrial on Saturday after the jury deadlocked.
Steele said Constand would once again take the stand. "Further, future jurors will be reluctant to speak up or to say what they think when deliberating if they fear that what they say during deliberations will not be kept secret". Steele argued that although jurors may choose to come forward to the media of their own volition that should be their choice.
Bill Cosby, who remains free on bail pending the new trial, left the courthouse without talking to reporters.
But the Philadelphia Media Network, publishers of the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News, sought the public release of the jurors' names and was joined by other media outlets, including ABC Inc., CNN, The New York Times and the Washington Post.
O'Connor also hopes that the Cosby accusations will highlight the "uncomfortable truth", that anyone can commit sexual violence.
The Montgomery County district attorney intends to retry the celebrity on three counts of aggravated indecent assault.
An alternate juror from Pittsburgh said Monday he would have probably voted to convict Cosby.
"It was the craziest, eeriest bus ride I've ever taken", Mike McCloskey, 43, told radio station WDVE-FM in a phone interview.
The Associated Press has tried to contact jurors for comment but hasn't spoken speak to any of them. They are interested in finding out how close the jury came to reaching a verdict.
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