The judge overseeing Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex-trafficking trial temporarily paused jury selection on Friday due to worries that potential jurors might withdraw before the trial starts.
According to The New York Times, twelve jurors along with six alternates are expected to be sworn in on Monday, before opening statements begin. This process was initially set for Friday, but the defense highlighted an issue where a juror contacted the court via email requesting to be excused because of fears regarding their safety.
Judge Arun Subramanian indicated his preference to delay swearing in the jury until Monday to avoid the possibility of jurors getting “cold feet” and deciding not to participate over the weekend. The New York Times mentioned that while jurors will remain anonymous, they will not be sequestered.
Prospective jurors who admitted to hearing news about the high-profile case have not been eliminated. Prospective jurors have also disclosed that they viewed a video of Combs allegedly attacking his then-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura. However, a prospective juror was dismissed for stating that a photo below a news story showing Combs standing near a woman on the ground was “damning evidence.”
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While some jurors were reportedly dismissed due to language barriers or health issues, others were dismissed because they expressed potential bias toward Combs. For instance, a male juror was dismissed for outwardly violating court-issued rules not to read news about the high-profile trial. The male juror said he clicked a link to a news story about the jury selection process and spent a few minutes reading the article.
Previously, Subramanian ruled that prosecutors are allowed to show the video that shows Combs attacking Ventura at a California hotel in 2016. The video was released to the public last May, months before Combs’ arrest. Ventura is expected to testify against Combs and will not use a pseudonym.
Combs was arrested on September 16, 2024, outside a Manhattan hotel on federal charges of racketeering, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution. Combs has been denied bail three times, as Judge Andrew L. Carter determined there was a “serious risk” of witness tampering in this case.
Combs’ legal team sought home detention with GPS monitoring. In exchange, they offered to post $50 million bail and to use Combs’ home as collateral.
“The government has proven the defendant is a danger. The bail package is insufficient even on risk of flight,” Carter said while denying Combs’ bail.
Federal authorities raided Combs’ homes in Holmby Hills, California, and Miami in March 2024. Reports indicated that the raids were connected to an ongoing sex trafficking investigation that resulted in his arrest months later.
The reported raids also occurred four months after Ventura accused him of sex trafficking and abuse. In a multimillion-dollar lawsuit, she alleged that Combs drugged her and forced her to have sex with other men. The pair settled the lawsuit a day after its filing.
However, in May, the video surfaced showing Combs assaulting Ventura. After the video was released, Combs put out a video expressing remorse for his behavior.
Two more accusers came forward a week after Ventura’s lawsuit. One of the women claimed Combs drugged and raped her at Syracuse University in New York in 1991. Combs denied those allegations before a third accuser, Liza Gardner, levied similar allegations against him.
In that case, Gardner claimed Combs and singer-songwriter Aaron Hall drugged and raped her and a friend following an Uptown Records event in 1990. Gardner said she was 16 at the time of the incident. She also accused Combs of choking her a day after the assault
Days after footage of the Ventura assault was publicized, two more women filed lawsuits against Combs. One of those women was April Lampros, a New York Fashion Institute of Technology student who reportedly met Combs in 1994. Lampros accused Combs of sexually assaulting her on four occasions between the mid-1990s and the early 2000s.
Lampros claimed Combs promised to mentor her and connect her with executives in the fashion industry. Instead, Combs allegedly forced her to drink before raping her in a hotel room. Lampros recalled another instance in which Combs forced her to perform oral sex in a parking garage while a parking attendant watched.
Combs has been accused of committing or facilitating sexual abuse in at least 30 other lawsuits — including one, filed in October, which alleges he and Jay-Z raped a 13-year-old girl in New York in 2000. The accuser in that case had her lawsuit dismissed in February.
Combs turned down a plea deal days before jury selection began on Monday. His trial is expected to last two months.
[Feature Photo: Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File]
