Live Updates: Jury Selected in Sean Combs Sex-Trafficking Trial
The jury was supposed to be selected on Friday, but the judge had concerns that jurors would get 'cold feet' over the weekend and drop out of the trial.
Before opening statements on Monday, 12 jurors and six alternates were sworn in, selected after Judge Arun Subramanian grilled them on what they had already seen and heard about the allegations against Sean Combs.
There are eight men and four women on the jury. Among the six alternates, two are women and four are men.
The jurors range in age from their 30s to their 70s. They live in Manhattan, the Bronx and Westchester County. The panel includes a massage therapist, an investment analyst, a deli clerk at Gristedes, a dietary aide at a nursing home and a retiree who used to work for JPMorgan.
The panel was supposed to be selected on Friday, but the judge had concerns that jurors would get 'cold feet' over the weekend and drop out of the trial, so he decided to delay the selection until Monday morning.
Over three days of questioning from the judge overseeing the case, potential jurors described the extent of their exposure to the allegations of sexual abuse and violence that have trailed Mr. Combs over the past year and a half. Some were excused from the jury pool if they betrayed bias against Mr. Combs or the prosecution.
But familiarity with the allegations against him was not disqualifying.
Several jurors who were chosen said that they had seen footage of him assaulting his former girlfriend, Casandra Ventura, in an incident at the center of the government's sex-trafficking case. Judge Arun Subramanian ruled last month that some footage of the assault could be shown at trial.
One juror who was selected declared that he would be a 'blank slate entering this courtroom.'
Another juror said she knew very little about the case. 'I didn't hear nothing,' she said during jury selection. 'All I know was he was arrested.'
The jurors are anonymous, meaning their names will not be disclosed in public court. They will not be sequestered, so it is entirely up to them to shield themselves from the media coverage and other chatter about the case.
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