Sean “Diddy” Combs’ intercourse trafficking trial is formally underway because the jury choice course of started on Monday, Could. 5.
In the course of the choice course of, potential jurors have admitted to realizing quite a bit in regards to the allegations towards the hip-hop mogul. In response to Reuters, a number of potential jurors mentioned they’ve seen the video of him assaulting Cassie Ventura and heard a comic joke in regards to the child oil authorities allegedly present in his residences.
Whereas this is likely to be sufficient to dismiss jurors from different trials, having adopted prior media protection in regards to the case was not sufficient for them to be excused from doubtlessly serving on the jury for the two-month trial. Combs is dealing with expenses of racketeering conspiracy, intercourse trafficking, and transportation to interact in prostitution. He has pleaded not responsible.
Reuters provides that U.S. District Decide Arun Subramanian is questioning potential jurors one after the other in Manhattan this week, a course of referred to as voir dire. He’s seeking to seat a panel of 12 jurors and 6 alternates who might be honest and neutral to either side—a hefty process contemplating the ever present media protection of the case.
One juror–known as Juror No. 5–mentioned that they had seen a video on the information that confirmed Combs allegedly assaulting somebody in a lodge, however Subramanian determined that they had been certified for the panel after they assured the decide they’d be a “clean slate coming into this courtroom.”
One other potential juror was dismissed after writing in a screening questionnaire {that a} picture that they had seen beneath a information headline of a girl on the ground in a lodge hallway and Combs standing close to her “may very well be damning proof.”
In response to Selection, 150 potential jurors had been requested to fill out a questionnaire that gauged their data of Combs, their views on regulation enforcement, whether or not they have skilled a sexual assault, and extra. They had been additionally given a listing of practically 200 celebrities and public figures and requested to say which names they acknowledged. Among the many names on that checklist are Michael B. Jordan, Kanye West, Mike Myers and Child Cudi, although it’s unclear how the names on the checklist relate to the Combs trial.
Different names embrace Future’s Little one singer Michelle Williams, Lauren London, Daybreak Richard, singer-producer Dallas Austin and lots of of Combs’ members of the family. Surprisingly, various potential jurors claimed that they weren’t accustomed to any of the names.
Combs is dealing with 5 counts, together with one for racketeering, two for intercourse trafficking and two for transportation to interact in prostitution. He may face life in jail.
