For Americans tuning in to the trial, the criminal case against Bill Cosby offered an irresistible contrast: “America’s dad” vs. alleged sexual predator.

For the Pittsburgh-area jurors who heard his trial, the contrast may have played a part in their inability to reach a verdict, sparking a mistrial on June 17. But the case was also unusual from a lawyer’s perspective—peppered with legal oddities and raising unprecedented questions of law.