Juror dismissed in Diddy trial over 'inconsistencies'
A juror in the sex trafficking trial of rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs has been removed after giving inconsistent answers about where he lives.
During jury selection, the juror indicated on a questionnaire that he lived in the Bronx area of New York. But more recently, he told a court staffer he had moved in with his girlfriend in New Jersey.
On Friday, Judge Arun Subramanian said he had found "several inconsistencies" between the juror's answers in court transcripts, which he said could suggest a desire to "be deceptive" in an effort to get on the jury.
Lawyers for Combs had opposed the decision, saying that Combs would be "substantially prejudiced by the dismissal" of a black male from the jury.
The juror has been replaced by an alternative juror, a 57-year-old white father from Westchester.
Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to charges of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution.
The possible dismissal of the juror has been discussed by lawyers for the past week.
Lead prosecutor Maurene Comey had asked that a juror be dismissed for what she described as "a lack of candour".
The prosecution said the juror had disclosed that he recently moved to New Jersey with his girlfriend and had been staying there for most of the trial.
When he was questioned behind closed doors, the juror said he was staying in an apartment in the Bronx, New York, during the week, for four to five nights, when he was working and doing jury duty.
But the juror had said at an earlier stage, in a prospective juror interview several weeks ago, that he lived in the Bronx with his fiancé and daughter.
At one point, the juror had also mentioned living with an aunt, but later omitted her.
The judge said he had found "several inconsistencies" between the juror's answers in the court transcripts.
The inconsistencies, the judge said, could point to a desire to "shade answers" and raised serious question about the juror's "candour" and his "ability to follow instructions".
The judge noted that there were six alternative jurors to preserve the "integrity" of the court. "Removal of the juror is required, in this court's view," the judge said.
One of Combs' lawyers, Xavier Donaldson, objected to the judge's inclination, saying it is "very, very common" for New Yorkers to move between the city and New Jersey.
He said he believed the court is "equating inconsistencies with lying."
"I do believe he will be able to follow instructions," Donaldson said, adding that Juror No. 6 has been "awake - I can't say they all have been awake".
The defence's main objection related to the juror's race, with Donaldson noting that the trial's jury was the most diverse he had seen in his three-decade career.
"That part is important to me and my client," Donaldson said, adding that if the court were to dismiss the juror, it would be "a step backward."
"I don't generally play the race card unless I have it in my hand," Donaldson said.
Combs's legal team had requested a mistrial should the juror be dismissed.
Federal prosecutors rejected the implication that they were making decisions based on race, commenting that it was a "wonderful thing" that the jury was diverse.
The judge said the jury in the trial does not raise concerns about diversity, adding: "The court cannot and should not let race factor into what it should do."
On Monday, the judge said: "There is nothing the juror can say at this point that can put the genie back in the bottle and repair his credibility."
Eight men and four women were selected for the jury, along with six alternates. The trial is in its sixth week.
The prosecution plans to finish presenting its case this week, at which point the defence will have the chance to call its own witnesses.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
8 hours ago
Key moments from the sixth week of Sean 'Diddy' Combs' sex trafficking trial
NEW YORK -- The sixth week of the Sean 'Diddy' Combs' sex trafficking trial was shortened by a holiday and a juror's illness as prosecutors nearly concluded their case, setting the stage for a one- or two-day defense presentation next week. In the trial's first five weeks, jurors repeatedly heard testimony about drug-fueled marathon sex events described as 'freak-offs' by one of Combs' ex-girlfriends and as 'hotel nights' by another. In the sixth week, they were shown about 20 minutes of video recordings from the dayslong events. Combs, the founder of Bad Boy Entertainment, has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges in the trial, which continues Monday. Here are key moments from the past week: Jurors largely kept their reactions muted when they were shown about 20 minutes of recordings made by Combs of his then-girlfriends having sex with male sex workers at the elaborately staged 'freak-offs' or 'hotel nights.' Prosecutors say the events were proof of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges because Combs coerced his employees, associates and even his girlfriends to recruit and arrange flights for sex workers while his workers obtained drugs, stocked hotel rooms with baby oil, lubricant, condoms, candles and liquor and delivered cash. In her opening statement, defense lawyer Teny Geragos had called the videos 'powerful evidence that the sexual conduct in this case was consensual and not based on coercion.' Prosecutors played about 2 minutes of the recordings before the defense team aired about 18 minutes of the videos. The public and the press were unable to observe whether the prosecutors or defense lawyers had the better arguments after the judge ruled that neither the recordings nor the sound could be seen or heard by anyone except lawyers, the judge and the jury. Several jurors seemed to cast their eyes and sometimes turn their bodies away from the screens directly in front of them while the recordings played. The jurors listened through earphones supplied by the court, as did Combs and lawyers. Judge Arun Subramanian started the week by dismissing a juror whose conflicting answers about whether he lived in New Jersey or New York convinced the judge he was a threat to the integrity of the trial. Subramanian said the juror's answers during jury selection and in the week before he was excused 'raised serious concerns as to the juror's candor and whether he shaded answers to get on and stay on the jury.' 'The inconsistencies — where the juror has lived and with whom — go to straightforward issues as to which there should not have been any doubts, and the answers also go to something vital: the basic qualifications of a juror to serve,' the judge said. Residents of New Jersey would not be permitted to sit on a New York federal jury. A day before Subramanian ruled, defense lawyers argued fiercely against dismissal, saying that replacing the Black juror with a white alternate juror so late in the trial would change the diverse demographics of the jury and require a mistrial. The jurors are anonymous for the Combs trial. It wasn't the only issue regarding jurors for the week. The judge, angered by a media report about the questioning of another juror the week before that occurred in a sealed proceeding, warned lawyers that they could face civil and criminal sanctions if such a leak happened again. That juror was not dismissed. And Wednesday's court session had to be canceled after a juror reported "vertigo symptoms" on the way to the courthouse. Defense attorney Marc Agnifilo seemed to close the door on any chance Combs would testify when he said Friday that the defense presentation would be finished Tuesday or Wednesday the following week, even if prosecutors don't rest until late Monday. It is not uncommon for defendants to choose not to testify at criminal trials. Besides being exposed to cross-examination by prosecutors, the testimony can be used by the government against the defendant should there be a need for a retrial. Also, if there is a conviction, the judge can conclude that the jury believed the defendant lied on the stand. Brendan Paul, fresh off the college basketball courts where he once played in a cameo role for Syracuse University, joined Combs' companies as a personal assistant in late 2022 and was warned by a friend who had worked for Combs about what was ahead. 'He told me to get in and get out,' Paul recalled for the jury, citing the endless days and always-on-edge existence. 'If you have a girlfriend, break up with her. And you're never going to see your family.' The friend also instructed him to 'build a rolodex of clientele and get out,' he said. Paul said he worked 80 to 100 hours a week for a music power broker who received 'thousands and thousands' of text messages and emails a day. He was paid $75,000 salary initially, but it was raised in January 2024 to $100,000. He said Combs told him he 'doesn't take no for an answer' and wanted his staff to 'move like Seal Team Six.' Several times, Paul said, he picked up drugs for Combs and knew to keep his boss out of the drug trade because 'it was very important to keep his profile low. He's a celebrity.' The job came to an abrupt end in March 2024 when Paul was arrested at a Miami airport on drug charges after a small amount of cocaine that he said he picked up in Combs' room that morning was mistakenly put in his travel bag as he prepared to join Combs on a trip to the Bahamas. The charges were later dropped in a pretrial diversion program.
Business Insider
10 hours ago
- Business Insider
A Combs trial glossary: ex-PA tells jury what 'SEAL Team Six' and 'Gucci bag active' mean in Diddy-speak
Sean Combs ' jury got a lesson in Diddy Speak on Friday, courtesy of the sixth former personal assistant to testify against him in the rap mogul's Manhattan sex-trafficking and racketeering trial. "Zans," "Gucci bag active," and "SEAL Team Six" — ex-PA Brendan Paul was tasked with explaining all these Combsworld slang terms and more. Paul's testimony was tactically important. Prosecutors used his descriptions of drugs, sex, and grueling work schedules to bolster the narcotics-distribution, sex-trafficking, and forced-labor allegations of a racketeering charge that carries a potential life sentence. The testimony also offers a primer in deciphering Diddy. Here are some insider references the PA translated for jurors: 1. Gucci-bag active Paul, who worked as Combs' gofer from 2022 into 2024, once texted Kristina Khorram, chief of staff at the mogul's music and lifestyle empire, to let her know that their boss was up and at 'em. "PD active now," he texted. "Like, wild king mode active?" Khorram responded, according to the February 2024 text chain shown to jurors on Friday. "Or Gucci bag active?" "In between the two, if that makes sense LOL," Paul answered. Paul explained from the witness stand that Khorram was asking if Combs was busy preparing for the evening's "wild king night" (see below) or if he had also been dipping into a certain pouch-sized, black leather Gucci bag. Asking if Combs was "Gucci bag active" was Khorram's way of finding out, "Is he partying? Is he getting high?" Paul told the jury. Multiple PAs have testified that the Gucci bag was always stocked with drugs and went with Combs wherever he traveled. The bag, now known as Government Exhibit 10A-103-M1, contained an assortment of cocaine, ketamine, methamphetamine, and Xanax when federal agents seized it from Combs' Miami home in March 2024. It also had three orange pills stamped with the word "Tesla" that tested positive for ecstasy. 2. Wild king nights Combs is accused of sex trafficking two girlfriends, R&B artist Cassie Ventura and "Jane Doe," by forcing them to have sex with male escorts as he watched, masturbated, and recorded them. Jurors have previously heard that between 2008 and 2018, Combs and Ventura used the term "freak offs" to describe these drug-fueled, dayslong performances at the center of the sex-trafficking case. By the time Combs began dating the second accuser, "Jane," in 2021, they were called "hotel nights," at least for a while, prosecutors said. On the stand on Friday, Paul provided a clue as to when — and why — the name changed from "hotel nights" to "wild king nights." "After Cassie's lawsuit, they stopped being in hotels," Paul said, referring to Ventura's highly publicized November 2023 suit, which accused Combs of beating her and forcing her to have sex with male escorts in luxury hotels across the country. Combs settled Ventura's lawsuit for $20 million the day after it was filed, but it still had grave consequences, sparking a barrage of similar sex-assault suits and the federal investigation leading to his indictment. 3. Zans "You get me zans," Combs once asked Paul in a punctuation-free Valentine's Day 2024 text shown to the eight-man, four-woman jury Friday. "Still working on it," Paul responded. "Xanax," Paul explained when lead prosecutor Maurene Comey asked him to define "zans." Prosecutors will likely argue that the text is significant because it shows Combs personally asking Paul, an employee of what the indictment calls the "Combs criminal enterprise," to purchase illegal drugs. Paul said he bought drugs for Combs on between five and 10 occasions during his 18-month stint as personal assistant. He also told jurors his job ended in March of 2024, when federal agents executed a search warrant on Combs' plane at a Miami airport. Paul said he was arrested for possessing seven tenths of a gram of his boss's cocaine. The charge was eventually dismissed. 4. Flower, tree, and Sunset Sherbet On cross-examination, defense lawyer Brian Steel asked if the amount of drugs Paul purchased for Combs appeared to suggest mere "personal use." Paul agreed, answering that it represented "what I would consider personal use." Still, the cost could pile up. Paul was asked about a February 9, 2024, text in which he complained that the company owed him nearly $5,000 for drug outlays he'd made on Combs' behalf. In the text, Paul told Khorram and a Combs Global finance exec that he'd been waiting months to be paid back for $4,200 he'd spent on "flower" — meaning marijuana, the ex-PA explained. "King Louie and Sunset Sherbet," Paul told the jury when asked what Combs' favorite strains of weed were. (One of his first jobs as PA, he testified, was "packing joints.") According to the same 2024 text, Combs also owed Paul $780 for "Gucci items." Asked what that term meant, Paul answered, "hard drugs." 5. Tusi Paul told the jury he had worked for Combs for only a few weeks when he found a vial of bright pink powder and a bag of blue pills left out on Combs' desk in his Los Angeles mansion. Paul said he texted a photo of the two items to his fellow personal assistants, asking what he should do. On Friday, he was asked about the photo. "I took it," he confirmed. He said he tucked the items out of sight and later learned the pink powder was called "tusi" or "2C." Tusi is a mix of the powdered horse tranquilizer ketamine and ecstasy, "dyed pink for the aesthetic," Paul told the jury. Combs once asked him to sample some pink powder, "to see if it was any good," Paul testified. "Euphoric," he said when the prosecutor asked how he felt afterward. He didn't want to try the drug, but did so anyway. "I wanted to prove my loyalty," he told the jury. He was 23 years old at the time. 6. K-pop Asked what drugs he purchased for Combs over his 18 months working for him, Paul rattled off a lengthy list. It included marijuana, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine, and tusi. It also included something he called "K-pop." Here again, prosecutors assumed the jury needed a vocabulary lesson. When Comey asked the former PA to tell jurors what K-pop is, Paul answered, "It's Ketamine in lollipop form." 7. Guido, One Stop, Baby Girl, and Ovi Paul rattled off another lengthy list when asked who he knew to be selling drugs to Combs. The list included "Baby Girl," "Ovi," and a double-chinned man (based on his photo in evidence) named "Guido," whom Paul described as "the drug dealer in Los Angeles." Also included was an aptly named fellow called "One Stop," a name that reflected the broad variety of drugs he sold, Danity Kane singer Dawn Richard explained in testimony last month. "Cocaine, Plan B, birth control, weed, E, molly, like, everything," Richard told the jury of One Stop's wares. 8. SEAL Team Six In Combs' lexicon, SEAL Team Six, the covert and loyal Navy unit that killed Osama bin Laden, is the model for an ideal workforce. "What was Mr. Combs' expectation of his assistants?" Comey asked Paul. "He used to say that he wants us to move like SEAL Team Six," Paul answered. "What was your understanding of what he meant by moving like SEAL Team Six?" Paul was asked next. "Just being militant," he answered. "Get things done without him asking. Nothing taken by surprise." Paul summed up his personal assistant "mission" this way: "Just make sure he's always happy." Combs would fire assistants on the spot for minor transgressions. Paul testified he was axed in November 2023 because "I forgot his Lululemon fanny pack when he wanted to go on a walk." Combs was a forgiving SEAL team commander, though — or at least a forgetful one. Paul said that after the Lululemon mishap, he just kept returning to work. "I saw him again," some days later, Paul told the jury, "and he was like, 'Oh hey.'" Testimony continues Monday, when the government is expected to rest its case. Lead Combs attorney Marc Agnifilo told the judge Friday that the current plan is to rest the defense case after only one or two days of testimony, in which case closing arguments could begin on Thursday. "If there's any shifting in that, I'll let everyone know immediately," the lawyer told US District Judge Arun Subramanian and prosecutors.
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Yahoo
Diddy beat one criminal trial after testifying. Will he make the same gamble again?
Lawyers for Sean "Diddy" Combs haven't said if he will testify at his federal sex-trafficking trial. Legal experts warn that testifying could open him to damaging cross-examination. Combs took the stand at his 2001 guns and bribery trial and was acquitted. Sean "Diddy" Combs made a bold move when he testified at his Manhattan gun and bribery trial more than two decades ago. Combs, who was facing up to 15 years in prison on state charges related to a 1999 Times Square nightclub shooting, ultimately walked away a free man. "I thought I was being shot at," Combs, then 31, told jurors, turning the tables by playing the victim rather than the aggressor. "My hands were up." Back then, the jury believed the hip-hop mogul, listening to his life story, laughing at his jokes, and ultimately awarding him a full acquittal. "God has blessed me," the rap entrepreneur told jurors. "She's my mother — it's like a full-time job," he said when asked to name Janice Combs' profession, eliciting warm laughs from female jurors. If Combs decides to testify in his Manhattan federal sex-trafficking and racketeering trial, now in its sixth week, he might not be as lucky. Combs' team of attorneys has yet to hint at whether the graying, now-55-year-old will take the witness stand. But lawyers who are not involved in Combs' case told Business Insider that testifying could backfire badly and expose the onetime near-billionaire to potentially damaging cross-examination from the prosecution. "It's a very risky move," attorney and former federal prosecutor Mark Chutkow said, adding that it would likely have to be a last resort, "Hail Mary situation" for the defense to put Combs on the stand. Chutkow, who has handled racketeering and sex trafficking cases during his time leading the criminal division of the US attorney's office in Detroit, called it "very rare" for a criminal defendant "to succeed in the way they envision when they testify." If Combs does take the stand, damaging new information may emerge, and prosecutors will surely revisit the most damning evidence presented so far, including the infamous hotel-beatdown video showing him kicking and dragging R&B singer Cassie Ventura, said Chutkow. "That videotape of him beating Cassie Ventura will be one of the first items that they will cross-examine him with," Chutkow said. "And how does one explain that away? You can't really explain it away, and if you even try, you're going to only dig yourself deeper into a hole." Defense attorney Michael Bachner, who was part of Combs' legal team during the music tycoon's 2001 Manhattan trial, told BI that he'd be "shocked" if Combs took the stand again. Combs' lawyers have already "done a good enough job raising doubts" among the eight-man, four-woman jury, said Bachner, a former prosecutor. The rapper's defense attorneys have tried to use their cross-examinations of his two sex-trafficking accusers — Ventura, the prosecution's star witness, and another ex-girlfriend who testified under the pseudonym "Jane" — as jealous at the time and financially motivated now. Combs' attorneys have argued that the sex he engaged in with the women was consensual. While Ventura and Jane both testified about being beaten and forced into dayslong, drug-fueled sex performances with male escorts referred to as "freak offs" or "hotel nights," Combs' defense has pointed to affectionate message exchanges with him. "Their defense is, 'Ladies and gentlemen, Sean Combs has already told you what this is about. You saw his emails and texts. You saw what he was saying contemporaneously, what was being said back and forth,'" Bachner said. "So there's no reason for him to take the stand here." Spencer Kuvin, an attorney who has represented multiple accusers of late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, agreed that by testifying, Combs risks damaging his case. "The pro of testifying is that he will be able to humanize himself with the jury and possibly be able to try and convince the jury about the consensual nature of his actions," Kuvin said. "The downside of testifying is the ability of cross-examination beyond the limited testimony he will try to offer." The defense does not need Combs to take the witness stand in order to pursue their argument that while Combs was, at times, a violent drug user with an unconventional sex life, he was not involved in sex trafficking or racketeering, said former Manhattan federal prosecutor Sarah Krissoff. "The defense was able to get this narrative in during the cross-examination of the government's witnesses," Krissoff, a white-collar defense attorney. Still, Krissoff said, "At the end of the day, it is Combs' decision whether or not he wants to testify." "The court will make sure that Combs understands that it is his decision, not his lawyer's decision," she said. Attorneys for Combs did not respond to a request for comment regarding whether he will take the witness stand. Prosecutors will soon rest their case after they called more than thirty witnesses over the course of six weeks to testify against Combs. The defense is expected to start presenting its side to the jury next week. The defense plans to call two employees of Combs Global, his lifestyle and music empire, to testify next week on his behalf, lead attorney Marc Agnifilo told the judge Monday. A forensic psychiatrist is also on deck to testify as an expert witness for the defense. "His children might be introduced because they can introduce him and show that he's not the monster that has been portrayed by the prosecution, but is a devoted, caring, loving father," said Chutkow. "Oftentimes that kind of character evidence comes in without a lot of searing cross-examination," he said. "So it's a safer way for the defense to soften the portrayal that the prosecution had earlier made." If convicted of the top charges of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy, Combs faces up to life in prison. Read the original article on Business Insider
