Jurors reach verdict on 4 counts at Sean ‘Diddy' Combs sex trafficking trial, remain deadlocked on one

Yahoo

13 hours ago

NEW YORK — Jurors weighing the federal case against Sean 'Diddy' Combs on Tuesday told the court they'd reached a verdict on all counts except the RICO conspiracy charge, which had drawn 'unpersuadable opinions on both sides.'
In a note sent out after 4 p.m., the eight men and four women on the jury said after around 12 hours of deliberations, they had decided on two counts of sex trafficking and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. The note did not indicate what their verdict was on those counts.
The outstanding charge is racketeering conspiracy, which carries a potential life sentence and alleges Combs ran his Bad Boy Records empire like a criminal enterprise.
Combs appeared shell-shocked in court and was seen dabbing his eyes after his attorneys received the note. The development came as a thunderstorm broke out amid darkening skies above the courthouse.
After hearing proposals from federal prosecutors and the rap mogul's team about how to proceed, Manhattan Federal Judge Arun Subramanian brought the jury back in and instructed them to keep deliberating.
'It is your duty, as jurors, to consult with one another and to deliberate with a view to reaching an agreement,' the judge said.
The jurors soon sent out another note to say they would go home and continue weighing the case on Wednesday.
Combs, 55, could be sentenced to life in prison if found guilty of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy. He's pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The Manhattan U.S. attorney's office alleges he abused his notoriety and his wealth for two decades to sexually exploit women at weekly sex parties, directing them to perform sordid sex acts with a rotation of male escorts while high on his supply of drugs.
In the RICO charge the jury is grappling with, Combs is accused of employing members of his Bad Boy Records empire to help organize the vile sessions and commit kidnapping, arson, witness tampering, bribery and a host of other crimes to intimidate women into submission and terrorize anyone who threatened his authority.
Combs, a New York native who launched the careers of iconic hip hop artists like the Notorious B.I.G., maintains that, while it's true he has assaulted romantic partners, he never pressured women into sexual performances against their will, that he paid escorts for their time, not sex, and that his employees were not hired to commit crimes.
Earlier Tuesday, in a morning note, the jury asked to review the testimony of Combs' ex, Casandra 'Cassie' Ventura, regarding Combs brutally assaulting her in March 2016 at the Intercontinental Hotel in Los Angeles. Explosive footage of the assault shows Combs pummeling Ventura in a hallway, dragging her by the hair, kicking her while she curls up on the floor, and hurling a vase at her. Ventura, on May 13, testified that the assault occurred after she tried to leave a 'freak-off session after Combs punched her in the face.
Jurors also wanted to look back over Ventura's testimony regarding her interactions with Daniel Phillips, a former male revue performer, whom she and Phillips testified was hired multiple times to sleep with Ventura for Combs' sexual gratification between 2012 and 2013. The panel also asked to review Phillips' testimony.
The morning note also requested a review of accounts that Ventura shared about traveling with Combs to the Cannes Film Festival one year. In her testimony about the trip to the French film festival, Ventura said Combs had accused her of stealing his drugs and kicked her off his yacht without her shoes or her passport. After the tense trip, Ventura said she had swapped seats with someone on a commercial flight back to New York, but Combs switched them back.
Ventura said he spent the flight playing humiliating footage of her at freak-offs that she thought had been deleted, and then when they got back to the city, she felt she had no choice but to submit to another of the depraved events.
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