Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial: Jury selection set to be finalized Friday in sex trafficking case
Court narrows down potential jurors from 600 to dozens, with opening statements set for Monday, May 12
The final round of jury selection will begin Monday in the trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs.
The court must seat a panel of 18 New Yorkers — 12 jurors and six alternates — before opening statements are set to begin on May 12.
On Monday, lawyers will use peremptory challenges to strike off some of the remaining 43 potential jurors they do not want at trial to narrow that number down to 18. Opening statements will start after.
The music mogul is facing a five-count indictment accusing him of sex trafficking, transportation to engage in prostitution, and racketeering conspiracy.
The rapper was arrested in September 2024 as federal authorities alleged Combs and his associates threatened, abused, and coerced victims “to fulfill his sexual desires.” This included “Freak Offs,” recorded sex performances that prosecutors say Diddy arranged and forced victims to participate in. During searches of his homes, authorities seized narcotics and 1,000 bottles of lubricant and baby oil.
Two superseding indictments against the music mogul were added. In March, fresh allegations of “forced labor,” and in April, an additional charge of sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.
Diddy has denied any accusations of wrongdoing and has rejected the government’s plea deal offer.
What do we know about the plea deal Diddy rejected?
Sean “Diddy” Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, including sex trafficking, racketeering, and transportation for prostitution purposes, and has maintained his innocence since being arrested.
Last Thursday, standing before a judge in his final pre-trial hearing, Combs said he rejected the government’s offer to plead guilty to charges in exchange for a lesser sentence.
Ariana Baio reports.
Diddy rejects plea deal offer ahead of his trial on sex-trafficking charges
Medical malpractice expert witness remains in jury pool
Next up is a doctor of surgical pathology at Mount Sinai who has been an expert witness in medical malpractice cases and who did a four-week rotation in psychiatry as part of his medical training.
His personal experience of crime is that his son was once beaten up and had his phone stolen, he says he was told it was by three young Black men.
Asked if he would be biased, he replies: “People are people.”
He remains in the jury pool.
Another juror says he saw hotel video, but can be fair
The infamous hotel video showing the defendant allegedly attacking his former partner surfaces again.
A potential juror wrote on his questionnaire that Diddy looked angry, hostile, and entitled in the video, but concedes he could be fair at trial.
He stays in the jury pool.
There was laughter when a potential juror was asked if she knew any of the people on the extensive list of celebrities connected to the case against Diddy.
“I wish I did, but no.”
She stays in the jury pool.
Another juror admits to seeing news coverage
Another potential juror, a kitchen designer from Yonkers, admits to having seen some of the news coverage of the trial, saying it was on in his house as recently as this morning.
Nevertheless, both sides OK him to remain in the pool.
Juror raises concerns over difficulty reading
Prosecutors ask Judge Subramanian to exclude a juror who says that he sometimes finds reading hard when there are “difficult words.”
Diddy’s lawyer argues that it should be fine, given that the text messages that will be part of the evidence are written in simple English.
Prosecutors say that the messages are abbreviated and include typos, making them hard to interpret.
The judge says he will not exclude him for cause, but peremptories.
Juror says trauma from war means she cannot serve
A juror tells the court that she suffers from trauma from her experience of conflicts in the Ivory Coast.
In addition, while she wrote on the form that she had not seen the defendant on TV, she had.
Judge Subramanian excludes her from the jury pool.
Juror excluded for medical reasons
Before the court paused proceedings to take a break, another potential juror was excluded for medical reasons, claiming it would be difficult for her to sit through the trial.
How did we get here? Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and the rise of his ‘criminal enterprise’
Sheila Flynn writes:
The most honest thing Sean Combs may have ever done was name his record label “Bad Boy.”
Although 54-year-old Combs – aka Puff Daddy, aka Puffy, aka P. Diddy, Diddy and Love – has been orchestrating a lot more than just braggadocious “bad” behavior during the intervening decades, according to a federal indictment unsealed Tuesday. Instead, it charges, he’s been the veritable architect and leader of a “criminal enterprise” engaged in alleged arson, kidnapping, forced labor, bribery, obstruction of justice and sex trafficking.
It was that final accusation, laid out not in federal charging papers but in a series of damning lawsuits last year, that first revealed the growing cracks in the veneer of Combs’ carefully-curated reputation.
Read on...
