Juror Tossed Out Of Sean 'Diddy' Combs Trial For Perceived 'Lying'; Judge Admonishes Defense For Claiming Racial Bias
Jurors in Sean 'Diddy' Combs' sex-trafficking trial are hearing a plethora of seemingly incriminating texts on abuse, 'freak-offs,' drugs and the defendant's 'Kryptonite' from the Bad Boy Records founder's ex-top aide Kristina Khorram. However, it is a slightly different panel from the previous several weeks of the New York City trial.
In a widely expected move and over the opposition of the defense, Judge Arun Subramanian this morning confirmed his decision of June 13 to dismiss Juror No. 6 from the high-profile trial. Immediately replaced by one of the alternates, the exit of the juror in question will not delay the proceedings at all.
More from Deadline
Kanye West's Very Short Visit To Sean "Diddy" Combs' Trial Proves More Photo-Op Than Support For Pal
Judge Rejects Sean "Diddy" Combs' Latest Motion For Mistrial In Sex-Trafficking Case - Update
Sean 'Diddy' Combs Sex-Trafficking Trial Updates: Cassie Ventura's Testimony, $10M Hotel Settlement, Drugs, Violence, & The Feds
The much-accused 55-year-old Combs was arrested in September 2024 in a New York hotel lobby by a phalanx of police and federal officials on federal charges of racketeering, sex trafficking, transportation to engage in prostitution and more. On trial in the lower Manhattan courtroom and facing testimony for his ex-longtime girlfriend Cassie Ventura, other former lovers and women alleging abuse, rape and assault, male escorts, past employees, Grammy winning rapper Kid Cudie, and law enforcement officials, Diddy is facing life behind bars if found guilty by the still-eight men and four women jury.
The now ex-juror in question, a 41-year-old Black man who works in an administrative role at a state correctional facility, had started to give an alternating tale of where he actually lived, if it was in NYC or in New Jersey with a fiancée. 'The changing answers and inconsistency give the court worry about deception and lying,' the judge said last week, promising to ponder his decision over the weekend.
Over the weekend, the defense wrote to Judge Subramanian unsuccessfully once again requesting a mistrial and claiming, as they have on a number of occasions before, the U.S. Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York has a racial bias. The government's motion must be evaluated in light of the entire history of this investigation and prosecution, and not in isolation,' said defense attorney Alexandra A.E. Shapiro in the heavily redacted correspondence of June 15 (read entire letter here). 'Unfortunately, when considered against that background it is impossible to believe that this motion is merely a good-faith attempt to raise a valid question about the juror's integrity rather than an effort to take advantage of an opportunity to strike yet another black male from the jury.
Praising the court's 'well-reasoned conclusion' of June 13 on Juror No. 6's fate, U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton replied for his prosecution team early this morning.
'The Government respectfully writes in response to the defense's letter filed earlier this Evening' Clayton wrote, apparently getting his evenings slightly mistaken. 'Despite the Court's clear ruling on the necessity of removing Juror (redacted) the defense again attempts to cast the Government's motion to remove the juror as racially motivated. As the Court recognized on Friday after the defense first lobbed this baseless accusation, nothing could be further from the truth. Instead, as the Court laid out in detail after a careful review of the record, inconsistent statements made by Juror (redacted) during voir dire and in later colloquies relating to basic biographical information indicated a lack of candor.' (Read the government's response here).
Almost first thing Monday, before the jury was brought in, Judge Subramanian told the prosecution and the defense that he was still removing Juror No. 6.
The usually mild mannered judge also directly addressed the issue of racial bias.
'The defense asked the Court to base its decision on race,' he told the courtroom, with a pretty placid Combs sitting nearby. 'That would be inappropriate. So, Juror 6 is excused and is replaced by the first alternate.'
Promising to deal with an issue involving another juror later Monday, Judge Subramanian added of Juror No. 6: 'As to the defense's allegation of prosecutorial misconduct here, that is inviting the Court to make a decision based on race – and cannot be granted.'
With that, the revamped jury was brought in and testimony continued in the prosecution's case.The new Juror No. 6 is a 57-year-old manufacturing architect who lives in Westchester County with his family. He is White.
Emphasizing so-called 'summary witnesses' at this point, the feds are expected to end their presentation later this week. The defense has estimated its case could take up to four weeks, with no ironclad decision yet if Combs will testify.
At the start of the trial, the judge told the jurors and alternates that the trial would be over by the July 4 holiday. For anyone who has a calendar, that penciled in deadline is looking pretty unlikely at this juncture.
Best of Deadline
2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery
2025 TV Cancellations: Photo Gallery
2025-26 Awards Season Calendar: Dates For Tonys, Emmys, Oscars & More
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Louise Casey to appear before MPs after major review of child grooming failures
The author of the major review into grooming gangs which found authorities have 'shied away' from the ethnicity of sex offenders will face questions from MPs. Baroness Louise Casey will appear before the Commons Home Affairs Committee on Tuesday morning, after the Government set out plans to launch a new nationwide inquiry into grooming gangs following her rapid review of the scandal. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper claimed officials have dodged the issue of ethnicity among the groups of sex offenders for fear of being called racist, even though available data showed suspects were disproportionately likely to be Asian men. Speaking in the Commons on Monday as the review was published, the Home Secretary said 'much more robust national data is needed' on the ethnicity of offenders, adding that the authorities 'cannot and must not shy away from these findings'. Doing so would allow 'the criminality and depravity of a minority of men to be used to marginalise whole communities', she added. Lady Casey's report found that: 'The appalling lack of data on ethnicity in crime recording alone is a major failing over the last decade or more. Questions about ethnicity have been asked but dodged for years.' It added: 'We found that the ethnicity of perpetrators is shied away from and is still not recorded for two-thirds of perpetrators, so we are unable to provide any accurate assessment from the nationally collected data.' Multiple convictions of men from Asian ethnic backgrounds should have 'warranted closer examination', it said, adding: 'Instead of examination, we have seen obfuscation. In a vacuum, incomplete and unreliable data is used to suit the ends of those presenting it.' Former Tory government adviser Dominic Cummings meanwhile claimed in an interview with Sky News that officials from the Department for Education were supportive of Rotherham Council's suggestion of going to court in 2011 to prevent the Times' initial reporting of the scandal in Rotherham. Lord Michael Gove, then the education secretary, rejected the request for a judicial review on Mr Cummings' advice, the broadcaster reported. Ms Cooper said the Government would take action 'immediately' on all of Lady Casey's recommendations, after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer committed to launching a national inquiry into the abuse. The recommendations included: – Making it mandatory to collect ethnicity and nationality data of all suspects in child sexual abuse cases – A new national inquiry into child sexual abuse with statutory legal powers, which will co-ordinate the efforts of local investigations led by councils and set out 'strict timescales' for them to follow. – A nationwide National Crime Agency operation, targeting people who have sexually exploited children, and following up on an estimated more than 1,000 cold cases where no one was convicted. – A change in the law so that all adult sex with under-16s is considered rape. – A review of criminal records held by victims of child sexual exploitation. In the Commons, Ms Cooper 'unequivocally' apologised for the failings which had led to grooming and child sexual abuse. The Home Secretary also pledged to exclude convicted sex offenders from the asylum system, while the report warned 'a significant proportion' of live investigations into grooming gangs 'appear to involve suspects who are non-UK nationals and/or who are claiming asylum in the UK'. In her report, Lady Casey said it is time to draw a line in the sand and take action over the issue, which she called 'one of the most heinous crimes in our society'. She also urged opposition politicians not to use the scandal as a 'political football', adding there was a chance to 'create a national reset'.
San Francisco Chronicle
2 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
The home of one of the largest catalogs of Black history turns 100 in New York
NEW YORK (AP) — It is one of the largest repositories of Black history in the country — and its most devoted supporters say not enough people know about it. The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture hoped to change that Saturday, as it celebrated its centennial with a festival combining two of its marquee annual events. The Black Comic Book Festival and the Schomburg Literary Festival ran across a full day and featured readings, panel discussions, workshops, children's story times and cosplay, as well as a vendor marketplace. Saturday's celebration took over 135th Street in Manhattan between Malcolm X and Adam Clayton Powell boulevards. Founded in New York City during the height of the Harlem Renaissance, the Schomburg Center will spend the next year exhibiting signature objects curated from its massive catalog of Black literature, art, recordings and films. Artists, writers and community leaders have gone the center to be inspired, root their work in a deep understanding of the vastness of the African diaspora, and spread word of the global accomplishments of Black people. It is also the kind of place that, in an era of backlash against race-conscious education and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, exists as a free and accessible branch of the New York Public Library system. It's open to the public during regular business hours, but its acclaimed research division requires an appointment. 'The longevity the Schomburg has invested in preserving the traditions of the Black literary arts is worth celebrating, especially in how it sits in the canon of all the great writers that came beforehand,' said Mahogany Brown, an author and poet-in-residence at the Lincoln Center, who participated in the literary festival. On Saturday, Dr. Jenny Uguru, director of nursing quality at NYC Health and Hospitals, said the Schomburg Center 'stands as an archive to celebrate, recognize and uplift what Black people bring to the table, will bring to future tables.' For the centennial, the Schomburg's leaders have curated more than 100 items for an exhibition that tells the center's story through the objects, people, and the place — the historically Black neighborhood of Harlem — that shaped it. Those objects include a visitor register log from 1925-1940 featuring the signatures of Black literary icons and thought leaders, such as Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes; materials from the Fab 5 Freddy collection, documenting the earliest days of hip-hop; and actor and director Ossie Davis' copy of the 'Purlie Victorious' stage play script. An audio guide to the exhibition has been narrated by actor and literacy advocate LeVar Burton, the former host of the long-running TV show 'Reading Rainbow.' Whether they are new to the center or devoted supporters, visitors to the centennial exhibition will get a broader understanding of the Schomburg's history, the communities it has served, and the people who made it possible, said Joy Bivins, the Director of the Schomburg Center, who curated the centennial collection. 'Visitors will understand how the purposeful preservation of the cultural heritage of people of African descent has generated and fueled creativity across time and disciplines,' Bivins said. Novella Ford, associate director of public programs and exhibitions, said the Schomburg Center approaches its work through a Black lens, focusing on Black being and Black aliveness as it addresses current events, theories, or issues. 'We're constantly connecting the present to the past, always looking back to move forward, and vice versa,' Ford said. Still, many people outside the Schomburg community remain unaware of the center's existence — a concerning reality at a time when the Harlem neighborhood continues to gentrify around it and when the Trump administration is actively working to restrict the kind of race-conscious education and initiatives embedded in the center's mission. 'We amplify scholars of color,' Ford said. 'It's about reawakening. It gives us the tools and the voice to push back by affirming the beauty, complexity, and presence of Black identity.' Founder's donation seeds center's legacy The Schomburg Center has 11 million items in one of the oldest and largest collections of materials documenting the history and culture of people of African descent. That is a credit to founder Arturo Schomburg, an Afro-Latino historian born to a German father and African mother in Santurce, Puerto Rico. He was inspired to collect materials on Afro-Latin Americans and African American culture after a teacher told him that Black people lacked major figures and a noteworthy history. Schomburg moved to New York in 1891 and, during the height of the Harlem Renaissance in 1926, sold his collection of approximately 4,000 books and pamphlets to the New York Public Library. Selections from Schomburg's personal holdings, known as the seed library, are part of the centennial exhibition. Ernestine Rose, who was the head librarian at the 135th Street branch, and Catherine Latimer, the New York Public Library's first Black librarian, built on Schomburg's donation by documenting Black culture to reflect the neighborhoods around the library. Today, the library serves as a research archive of art, artifacts, manuscripts, rare books, photos, moving images and recorded sound. Over the years, it has grown in size, from a reading room on the third floor to three buildings that include a small theater and an auditorium for public programs, performances and movie screenings. Aysha Schomburg, the great-granddaughter of the center's founder, said she understands why many people still don't know about the library. When her parents first met, her mother had no idea what was behind the walls of the Schomburg Center, even being from Harlem herself. 'This is with every generation,' Schomburg told The Associated Press while out at the festival on Saturday. 'We have to make sure we're intentional about inviting people in. So even the centennial festival, we're bringing the Schomburg out literally into the street, into the community and saying, 'here we are.' ' Youth scholars seen as key to center's future For years, the Schomburg aimed to uplift New York's Black community through its Junior Scholars Program, a tuition-free program that awards dozens of youth from 6th through 12th grade. The scholars gain access to the center's repository and use it to create a multimedia showcase reflecting the richness, achievements, and struggles of today's Black experience. It's a lesser-known aspect of the Schomburg Center's legacy. That's in part because some in the Harlem community felt a divide between the institution and the neighborhood it purports to serve, said Damond Haynes, a former coordinator of interpretive programs at the center, who also worked with the Junior Scholars Program. But Harlem has changed since Haynes started working for the program about two decades ago. 'The Schomburg was like a castle,' Haynes said. "It was like a church, you know what I mean? Only the members go in. You admire the building.' For those who are exposed to the center's collections, the impact on their sense of self is undeniable, Haynes said. Kids are learning about themselves like Black history scholars, and it's like many families are passing the torch in a right of passage, he said. 'A lot of the teens, the avenues that they pick during the program, media, dance, poetry, visual art, they end up going into those programs,' Haynes said. 'A lot the teens actually find their identity within the program.'
San Francisco Chronicle
2 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Bay Area museum defies federal funding cuts with powerful African American quilt show
Even after losing more than $260,000 in federal support for its latest exhibition, the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive isn't backing down. 'We will persist. We will continue,' BAMPFA director Julie Rodrigues Widholm told the Chronicle. 'We believe deeply that this is meaningful work.' Indeed, 'Routed West: Twentieth-Century African American Quilts in California,' on view through Nov. 30, goes beyond simply displaying a kaleidoscopic delight of more than 100 quilts. The exhibition centers African American stories by incorporating profound historical research that reveals new depths to quilt-making traditions. It would be hard to imagine a stronger rejoinder to the change in values at the National Endowment of the Arts and Institute of Museum and Library Services. It will be up to visitors to decide if the exhibition 'no longer serves the interests of the United States.' The quilts by over 90 makers, nearly all Black women, trace African American history from the beginning of the 20th century through the Second Great Migration all the way to the contemporary quilters in Oakland today. Quilts made in the early 20th century were carried from the American South to the Bay Area during the Second Great Migration (1940-1970) when African Americans moved to port cities including Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle and, of course, Oakland. Patterns, traditions, warmth and care were passed down to the next generation, whose quilts appear in the later rooms. Materials change over time: denim work clothes arranged into a grid in 1928 give way to corduroy in the 1940s. Gerstine Scott's playful assemblage of neckties announces the office life of 1989. Modern pieces — many figurative and narrative — made and lent by members of contemporary quilt guilds extend the legacy of the quilting tradition in the final gallery. That BAMPFA should become a major center of African American quilts came as a surprise to the museum six years ago. Quixotic Berkeley collector Eli Leon had worked with former director Lawrence Rinder on exhibitions before, but hadn't mentioned he would bequeath approximately 3,000 quilts (the museum is still counting as they process, inventory, and document the quilts), increasing its permanent collection by 15%. Curator Elaine Yau was hired to handle the unexpected influx. Quilts, when they have been exhibited by museums in the U.S., have typically been presented as analogues to abstract modern art with the implicit message that they should be valued insofar as they resemble gallery and museum art predominantly made by famous white men. 'Routed West' challenges that notion, urging viewers to appreciate the quilts on their own terms. 'Quilt making has existed and thrived without art museums for many decades,' noted Yau, acknowledging that fact led her to ask herself, 'What would it mean to think of the museum as the outsider and latecomer to the tradition? When you do that, you begin to ask different questions.' Insights that emerged during collective discussions sponsored by the Terra Foundation for American Art among studio artists, quilt scholars, curators, historians and museum professionals centered the lives of the African American families who made the quilts, lived with the quilts and inherited the quilts. Exploring why a quiltmaker created a specific piece, how the quilt was used, what repair might tell us about the people who lived with the quilt are examinations of material culture — a methodology rarely applied to Jackson Pollock paintings and other modernist art. This line of inquiry uncovers what Yau calls 'the ethics of care.' 'These are questions about how we choose to care for people in our lives,' she went on, 'how we choose to invest creative energy with an intention to care for other people.' The robust and richly illustrated exhibition catalogue extends care to scholarship. Exhaustive research uncovered the names of quilt artists, mapped kinship ties and quilting networks that reveal how these works came to be. Oral histories add knowledge outside standard museum and gallery documentation. 'The object comes out of storage,' explained Yau, 'then there's this immediacy and the way it sparks the memory of another time and place.' For instance, when presented a quilt made by her father, Thomas Covington, Yau said North Oakland resident Carlena White immediately began recalling memories of Covington quilting on rainy days when he couldn't work outside. 'I hope an exhibition like this becomes a bridge,' Widholm told the Chronicle, 'between the kind of intimate relationship we can have with certain kinds of objects and materials in our day-to-day lives.' Widholm sees the project not only as an act of preservation, but also what she calls social justice. 'For me, social justice means acknowledging the humanity of everyone,' Widholm said, adding that art history without African American quilting would be incomplete, exclusionary and simply incorrect. In that sense, the stakes of a show like 'Routed West' are about more than visibility — they're about how history is remembered and whose histories are recorded. 'If we don't make certain decisions to show and give space to certain kinds of artists, they may be forgotten,' Widholm warned, 'or not documented well enough to be discovered in the future.' To counter that risk, the exhibition is accompanied by ample programming. A quilt documentation day on June 28, for instance, invites families to bring quilts to be photographed and recorded, along with oral histories, for inclusion in the national African American Quilt registry to ensure that these stories are not only preserved but actively woven into the broader fabric of American art history.
