Sean “Diddy” Combs’ intercourse trafficking trial is formally underway because the jury choice course of started on Monday, Might 5.
In the course of the choice course of, potential jurors have admitted to understanding lots concerning the allegations in opposition to the hip-hop mogul. In response to Reuters, a number of potential jurors stated they’ve seen the video of him assaulting Cassie Ventura and heard a comic joke concerning the child oil authorities allegedly present in his residences.
Whereas this could be sufficient to dismiss jurors from different trials, having adopted prior media protection concerning the case was not sufficient for them to be excused from probably serving on the jury for the two-month trial. Combs is going through expenses of racketeering conspiracy, intercourse trafficking, and transportation to have interaction 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 generally known as voir dire. He’s seeking to seat a panel of 12 jurors and 6 alternates who will be truthful and neutral to either side—a hefty process contemplating the ever present media protection of the case.
One juror–known as Juror No. 5–stated they’d 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 they’d seen under a information headline of a girl on the ground in a lodge hallway and Combs standing close to her “might be damning proof.”
In response to Selection, 150 potential jurors had been requested to fill out a questionnaire that gauged their information 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 record are Michael B. Jordan, Kanye West, Mike Myers and Child Cudi, although it’s unclear how the names on the record relate to the Combs trial.
Different names embody Future’s Little one singer Michelle Williams, Lauren London, Daybreak Richard, singer-producer Dallas Austin and plenty of of Combs’ members of the family. Surprisingly, a variety of potential jurors claimed that they weren’t aware of any of the names.
Combs is going through 5 counts, together with one for racketeering, two for intercourse trafficking and two for transportation to have interaction in prostitution. He may face life in jail.
