By Larry Neumeister, Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) – The last stage of the selection of the jury for the racketeering and sexual traffic trial of the Sean Hip -Hop Magnat “Diddy” Combs was to perform on Friday at the Manhattan Federal Court.
Federal prosecutors and lawyers gathered in a courtroom to reduce a pool of 45 potential jurors to 12 jurors and six deputy who will hear the two -month trial from Monday.
For three days this week, there were questions to the potential jurors to help the judge and the lawyers to determine if they could be just and impartial. And they were also questioned to make sure they could decide the case on the facts even after seeing explicit sexual activity videos that some could find disturbing.
Combs, 55, pleaded not guilty to accusations after his arrest in September and remained held without deposit in a federal locking in Brooklyn.
Friday, prosecutors were authorized to strike six future jury juries while the defense lawyers were authorized at 10 strokes before the finalization of the jury. Generally, lawyers do not have to explain why they eject individuals from the panel. The process was to take about an hour.
If Combs is convicted of all accusations, which include racketeering, kidnapping, criminal fire, corruption and sex trafficking, he would risk 15 years in prison and could remain behind bars for life.
Prosecutors allege that the founder of Bad Boy Records used his fame and power at the top of the world of hip-hop to sexually abuse women from 2004 to 2024.
An indictment includes descriptions of “freak offs”, drug addicts in which women were forced to have sex with male workers while combines films.
The accusations against also portray him combs as abusive with his victims, sometimes suffocating, striking, cutting and dragging, often by hair. Once, according to the indictment, he even suspended someone from a balcony.
His lawyers argue that prosecutors are trying to criminalize sexual activity between consenting adults. They concede that the Combs had abused various substances but say that it has undergone treatment.
A centerpiece of evidence against him is recordings of combing a longtime girlfriend in a corridor of the Los Angeles hotel in 2016.
After a video of the meeting broadcast on CNN last year, Combs apologized, saying: “I take full responsibility for my actions in this video. I was disgusted at the time when I did. I’m disgusted now. “
Many potential jurors interviewed by judge Arun Subramanian from Monday to Wednesday to have seen the video and that some had been tried too affected by it to be impartial and stay in the jury.
Originally published:
California Daily Newspapers