Partial verdict in Sean Combs sex trafficking trial
A courtroom sketch shows defense lawyers comforting Sean "Diddy" Combs after jurors announced they had reached a verdict on four of the five counts against him. Image: Reuters
A jury reached a partial verdict Tuesday in the sex trafficking trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs, but the panel was as of yet unable to agree on the most serious charge facing the music mogul – racketeering.
Judge Arun Subramanian instructed the 12 New Yorkers considering Combs's fate to keep working on that charge, and in the meantime the verdicts on the other counts will remain under wraps and only known to the jurors themselves.
"We have reached a verdict on counts 2, 3, 4 and 5. We are unable to reach a verdict on count 1 as we have jurors with unpersuadable opinions on both sides," the jury of eight men and four women said in a note read aloud in court.
The jury will return to the deliberation room on Wednesday.
Combs, 55, had pleaded not guilty to all five counts. If convicted of sex trafficking or racketeering, the former billionaire known for elevating hip-hop in American culture could face life in prison.
Before Subramanian read the jury's note, Combs rubbed his eyes and rested his face against his palm while seated at the defense table with his lawyers huddled around him.
One defense lawyer, Brian Steel, rubbed Combs' shoulder. Two of Combs' other defense lawyers put their arms around each other.
The partial verdict comes after a seven-week trial in which two of the music mogul's former girlfriends testified that he physically and sexually abused them.
Prosecutors say Combs was charged with racketeering because for two decades he used his business empire to force two of his romantic partners to take part in drug-fueled, days-long sexual performances sometimes known as "Freak Offs" with male sex workers in hotel rooms while Combs watched and occasionally filmed.
His lawyers acknowledged that the Bad Boy Records founder, once famed for hosting lavish parties for the cultural elite in luxurious locales like the Hamptons and Saint-Tropez, was at times violent in his domestic relationships.
But they said the sexual activity described by prosecutors was consensual. (Agencies)
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