Why Sean 'Diddy' Combs Lawyers Are Focusing on What Jurors Aren't Saying
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
Jury selection in the trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs entered its third day on Wednesday, and a jury consulting expert said body language from potential jurors could play an important role in the process.
Why It Matters
The charges against Combs have sent shockwaves through the entertainment industry, given his longstanding influence as a rapper, producer and entrepreneur. With potential legal ramifications that could reshape his career, the trial has become a focal point for both media and public attention.
Jury selection is expected to play a pivotal role in the case, potentially influencing the outcome based on who is chosen to serve.
What To Know
Hiliary Remick, managing director of jury consulting at Magna Legal Services, explained the role body language could play in jury selection.
"The trick for the defendant is to figure out whether these jurors are giving off any other signals," Remick told Newsweek. "So they might be looking at the jurors to see if there's anything from body language that they can detect that might mean they really want to be on this jury."
Combs is facing federal charges of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and denies any wrongdoing.
Remick said that media coverage of the case is a "real struggle."
"I think there's a real risk of jurors not being candid about their beliefs concerning this pre-existing information," Remick said.
Combs was formally charged in September of last year. Prosecutors allege that the artist used his influence and connections to facilitate illegal activities involving multiple victims. If convicted, he faces life in prison.
Combs made headlines in May of last year when surveillance footage from 2016 showed him grabbing, shoving, dragging and kicking his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura at a California hotel.
The video was widely circulated online and Remick sees it being a "big issue" in picking a jury.
Sean "Diddy" Combs at the 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards held on January 11, 2009 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California.
Sean "Diddy" Combs at the 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards held on January 11, 2009 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California.
zz/Zephyr/STAR MAX/IPx
"You hear some of the potential jurors already talking about having seen the video, or having it had an impact on them, and for the defendant, even if jurors say that they can be fair or get past it, that kind of pre-existing information could be tough to get past," Remick said.
Throughout the jury selection process, several celebrities' names have been mentioned, including rappers Kid Cudi and Kanye West, and actor Michael B. Jordan. Jurors were given a list of at least 190 people, including celebrities and public figures, and asked to indicate the names they recognized. It is unclear how the names on the list relate to Combs' trial.
"Jurors can be swayed by the power of celebrity, not only in Mr. Combs, but in the potential witnesses," Remick said.
What People Are Saying
Remick, in an interview with Newsweek: "We'll look for whether jurors seem forthcoming and honest, and that's going to come in the form of not only their words, but their body language."
Combs' lawyers, in a statement to CBS News New York last month: "These are not new allegations or new accusers. These are the same individuals, former long-term girlfriends, who were involved in consensual relationships. This was their private sex life, defined by consent, not coercion."
What Happens Next
Opening statements are expected to begin on May 12. The trial is expected to last eight to 10 weeks. If convicted, Combs faces potentially decades in prison.
Do you have a story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have any questions about this story? Contact LiveNews@newsweek.com.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Sean 'Diddy' Combs' 'Eerie' Favorite TV Show Revealed in Trial
Earlier Tuesday, June 10, Sean "Diddy" Combs suffered another loss in court when a judge denied his legal team's attempt to declare a mistrial. U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian rejected arguments from Combs' defense that focused on testimony from Bryana 'Bana' Bongolan, a close friend of Combs' ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura Fine. It was Combs' team's second attempt to declare a mistrial in the sex crimes case. Later in the trial on Tuesday, Combs' ex-girlfriend "Jane," testifying under a pseudonym, revealed under cross-examination that she "endured" nights in hotels with escorts because she wanted to spend time with Combs revealing nightly duties included bathing him, rubbing his feet, cuddling with him and watching his favorite TV show. "I felt loved by him because we experienced these things together," she said, via USA Today. In her testimony "Jane" revealed his favorite TV show true-crime franchise Dateline, which USA Today claimed as "eerie." The series features main host Lester Holt, who previously told USA Today that the show's stories are "relatable" because "you realize that people that do bad things could be across the street from you, their kids could go to school with yours." "A lot of the people in these stories were good people, up until the moment they weren't, or they were living normal lives like ours and then one day they became a victim of something really horrible," Holt said Combs faces five criminal counts: one count of racketeering conspiracy; two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion; and two counts of transportation to engage in 'Diddy' Combs' 'Eerie' Favorite TV Show Revealed in Trial first appeared on Men's Journal on Jun 10, 2025
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
Diddy's ex testified she researched what it means to be a 'cuck' to understand freak offs
Since opening statements, the defense has tried to humanize the unorthodox appetites of Sean Combs. On Tuesday, the defense asked an accuser about her research into a sex fetish central to the trial. "I would use the word 'cuck' for him," she said of Combs' desire to watch her have sex with other men. The defense team for Sean "Diddy" Combs broke new ground on Tuesday in their ongoing efforts to humanize his unorthodox appetites — this time by asking one of his accusers to describe her "research" into the fetish of cuckolding. "I just wanted to know why my partner wanted so many of these nights, and what was driving him," the accuser, "Jane," testified when asked by one of Combs' lawyers to describe her research. "I would use the word 'cuck' for him," she said her research led her to conclude. Jane, who is using a pseudonym, is the second ex-girlfriend and sex-trafficking accuser to testify against Combs at his federal trial in Manhattan. She spent Tuesday under a cross-examination that is due to continue on Wednesday and Thursday. Like the trial's first sex-trafficking accuser, R&B artist Cassie Ventura, Jane told the jury that Combs used violence, false promises, and drugs to coerce her into dayslong sessions of sex with male escorts. During these marathon sessions — Ventura called them "freak offs," Jane called them "hotel nights" — Combs would masturbate, make recordings, and give detailed instructions, like, "more baby oil," both women testified. Both Ventura and Jane described complying with these 72-hour threesomes — sometimes more men would be involved — out of love, and financial and emotional dependency. Both said Combs met their protests with scorn and insults, and with threats to withhold his affection and cash. Both described harrowing violence at Combs' hands. Ventura was beaten to the point of injury by Combs more than a dozen times in their on-and-off decadelong relationship, according to multiple witnesses, contemporaneous text messages, and photographs of her bruised face and body. "Is this coercion?" Jane testified that Combs taunted her last year, after a beating that covered her face with bruises. She said he then demanded she hide her welts and black eye with makeup, pop an ecstasy pill, and have sex with an escort, telling her, "you're not going to ruin my fucking night." Part of the defense strategy has been to portray the millionaire music and lifestyle mogul sympathetically, as a business genius who has struggled with mental health issues, drug addiction, and anger. Since the May 12 opening statements, his attorneys have made a point of calling him "Sean," instead of the other names they said he's otherwise known as, such as "Diddy" and "Puff." They have repeatedly asked prosecution witnesses to describe his generosity, including on Jane's first day of cross-examination. For two years, Combs has paid the $10,000 monthly rent on Jane's 5,300 square foot Los Angeles-area home, she testified Tuesday. He also invested $20,000 in her dress design business, she said. "I would assume that it would be close to that," Jane responded when defense lawyer Teny Geragos asked if it were true that Combs had wired her a total of $150,000 in the three years they dated, between 2021 and 2024. Jane being asked to describe her research into "cuckoldry" may be part of a challenging effort to humanize and normalize Combs and his appetites. His lawyers made a point during the cross-examination of his former assistants to highlight Combs' penchant for putting applesauce on his cheeseburgers. Freak offs or hotel nights. which the defense calls consensual, may be presented by the defense as a similar, though more extreme, example of a personal preference — a "lifestyle," as Geragos lightly called it on Tuesday. Geragos pressed Jane for a detailed description of her research into cuckoldry, repeatedly asking, "what else?" and "what were some of the other things" Jane had learned. Only after Jane used the word "bi-curiosity" did the line of questioning end, and the defense lawyer move on. "Cucks could also have a bi-curiosity that they were too ashamed to experience themselves," Jane said her research showed her. "So they use the woman to venture out into this curiosity — without venturing out into this activity themselves," she added. Prosecutors have shown these sex performances in a much darker light than as merely part of an exploration of a "curiosity" or a "lifestyle," calling them coercive and humiliating, as have Ventura and Jane. "I just felt like it was all I was good for to him," testified Ventura. She told jurors that freak offs would leave the walls, couches, and carpets of the hotel suites that Combs rented soiled with baby oil, lubricant, candle wax, blood, and urine. "I just felt pretty horrible about myself," she told jurors. "I felt disgusting." Read the original article on Business Insider
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
Combs' ex accuses him of abuse but says she loves him
An ex-girlfriend of Sean "Diddy" Combs who accuses him of kicking, punching and dragging her has testified at his sex trafficking trial that she still loves the hip-hop mogul. "He was my baby," said the woman, who is testifying under the pseudonym Jane to protect her privacy. Asked under cross-examination by defence lawyer Teny Geragos if she still loves Combs, Jane said, "I do". The woman said she enjoyed taking care of Combs, bathing him and falling asleep with him while watching television after "hotel nights", their phrase for drug-fuelled encounters in which she would have sex with male entertainers while Combs watched. The questioning was part of Combs' strategy to portray Jane as a willing participant in the sexual encounters with him, not a victim of sex trafficking as prosecutors allege. She said she agreed to these "hotel nights" while "under a lot of emotional pressure" - and already hooked on love and a desire to stay in a relationship with Combs. Jane testified that she partook in the encounters, sometimes grudgingly, because they pleased Combs and she enjoyed spending time alone with him afterward. Combs, 55, and the founder of Bad Boy Records, has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors say Combs used force and threats of cutting off financial support to coerce women into taking part in the encounters, sometimes known as "Freak Offs". Over three days under questioning by prosecutors in Manhattan federal court, Jane said that she agreed to have sex with a male escort in front of Combs early in their relationship but that he later dismissed her requests to stop and threatened to stop paying her rent. On Monday, Jane said Combs kicked, punched and dragged her during an altercation at her Los Angeles home last June. Later that night, he told her to perform oral sex on a male entertainer even though she said she did not want to, Jane said. Under questioning on Tuesday, Jane said she researched the terms "cuck" and "cuckold" during her relationship with Combs to try to understand his desires. The words refer to men who enjoy watching female partners with other men, Jane said. "I just wanted to know why my partner wanted so many of these nights and what was driving him," Jane said. Combs' defence lawyers are expected to cross-examine Jane until Thursday. Testimony is in its fifth week. Combs could face life in prison if convicted on all counts. Also known throughout his career as Puff Daddy and P Diddy, Combs turned artists like Notorious B.I.G. and Usher into stars, elevating hip-hop in American culture and becoming a billionaire in the process. with AP
