Sean 'Diddy' Combs Trial Sees Jury Finalization Kicked to Monday So No One Gets 'Cold Feet'
The selection of the final 12 men and women who will make up the jury for Sean 'Diddy' Combs' federal sex trafficking and racketeering trial has been pushed to Monday to prevent those selected from getting 'cold feet' about hearing the high-profile and closely-watched case that could end with the rap mogul walking free or behind bars for the rest of his life.
Friday was the day that attorneys for the prosecution and defense would further question the 43 men and women from the jury pool, whittling that group down to 12 jurors and six alternates by exercising their peremptory strikes. U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian had already conducted one-on-one interviews with all of them over this past week, ensuring that they could remain unbiased and open-minded while hearing evidence in the high-profile case. Many prospective jurors expressed that they had previous knowledge of Combs and particularly of the footage leaked on CNN of his attacking his ex-girlfriend in a nearly decade-old incident at a Los Angeles hotel.
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'The Court will hold a hearing on May 9, 2025 at 9:00 a.m. in Courtroom 26A, Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse, 500 Pearl Street, New York, NY 10007 for the parties to exercise their peremptory strikes. If the parties have any remaining issues that need to be resolved before the start of trial, they should try their best to raise them by May 8, 2025 at 2:00 p.m.,' a memo from Judge Subramanian read.
Despite Combs' massive fame, enough jurors passed muster, and the threshold of men and women to sit on the jury was met on time. Until this morning, it seemed that opening arguments in the anticipated eight-week trial would begin first thing on Monday morning. But lead defense attorney Marc Agnifilo expressed concerns Friday morning that if they were to finalize the 12 jurors and six alternates today, some of the selected jurors may get a case of 'cold feet' over the weekend and wish to excuse themselves, leading to further delays. Judge Subramanian agreed that this threat was valid and adjourned the court for the day. Final jury selection will take place first thing on Monday, and the court will go immediately into opening statements once the jury is seated.
The government has accused Combs of using his billion-dollar business as a 'criminal enterprise' in which he and several co-conspirators under his purview engaged in sex trafficking, forced labor, interstate transportation for purposes of prostitution, coercion and enticement to engage in prostitution, narcotics offenses, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice. The federal prosecutors laid out their case in a five-count indictment, which was made public just ahead of Combs' arrest in Manhattan in September and saw additions made to it in subsequent months.
Combs has pleaded not guilty to the charge and denied all accusations against him.
In court this week, the defense team made it clear that in terms of Combs' relationship with Ventura, who is listed as Victim-1 on the indictment and who plans to testify under her real name, they will paint a picture of a relationship where the violence was not one-sided, but that both Ventura and Combs committed violent acts towards one another throughout their on-off relationship.
'[The defense team] is going to take the position that there was mutual violence in their relationship … hitting, on both sides: DV (domestic violence),' Agnifilo said amid a debate on the parameters of Ventura's cross-examination vis-a-vis her medical history, 'We are absolutely going to admit to domestic violence. But at what point does it become coercive?'
Ventura is one of four anticipated alleged victims the prosecution intends to have taken the stand to testify against Combs. However, the prosecution admitted on Thursday that it is unsure if one of the alleged victims will turn up to court as they have lost contact with her this past week.
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