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.