A jury of eight men and four women is now deliberating five criminal counts against Sean Combs after hearing more than two hours of instructions from Judge Arun Subramanian.
Sean “Diddy” Combs embraced the members of his legal defense team this morning shortly before proceedings began in his sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy trial.
Since jury selection began on May 5, the eight men and four women on the jury have spent 35 days in court between the selection process, testimony, and summations, with one juror replaced in the process with an alternate. Today will be the first day they can begin discussing the case among themselves.
Judge Arun Subramanian began the morning’s proceedings by instructing the jury on the law – a process known as charging the jury. The lengthy process of reading the jury charge is the last step before the jury can begin their deliberations.
“You have to decide which witnesses to believe and which facts are true,” Subramanian told the jury.
Subramanian noted that the jury could decide to fully disregard the testimony of a witness if they believe he or she intentionally provided false information on the stand.
“If you find that any witness has willfully testified falsely … you have the right to reject the testimony of that witness in its entirety,” Subramanian said. “A witness may be inaccurate or contradictory but be truthful or entirely credible in other parts of their testimony.”
Subramanian is now walking the jury through each of the counts in the indictment and what elements need to be proven for the jury to convict Combs, who has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Jury deliberations are set to begin today in the federal racketeering and sex trafficking trial of Sean Combs, whom federal prosecutors have charged with leading a criminal conspiracy that allegedly trafficked women and transported prostitutes. Combs has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
“Find him guilty,” assistant United States attorney Maurene Comey implored the jury during her closing arguments last week.
The defense asked jurors to “summon the courage” to acquit Combs, who conceded he could be violent, jealous and a drug user but whose lawyers argued faced a “badly, badly exaggerated” case to make him appear to be something he is not.
“They have charged personal-use drugs and threesomes as racketeering,” defense attorney Marc Agnifilo told the jury.
The jury is comprised of eight men and four women, aged 30-74, all of whom have a college or advanced degree. They heard more than six weeks of graphic, harrowing testimony about physical violence, degrading sex and psychological trauma.
“For 20 years, the defendant got away with his crimes,” Comey said. “That ends in this courtroom.”
Agnifilo said women like Combs’ former girlfriend Cassie Ventura, who testified for the prosecution, may now regret participating in so-called "freak-off" sexual encounters but consented to do so at the time because that was their “lifestyle.”
Deliberations will begin after Judge Arun Subramanian instructs jurors to consider the law and the evidence.
It wasn't sex trafficking. It was "one of the great modern love stories."
That's how lawyers for Sean "Diddy" Combs in their closing argument on Friday framed for the jury the world of alleged violence, drugs and choreographed orgies at the heart of the federal case against one the biggest superstars in the music world.