Judge Threatens To Bar Sean 'Diddy' Combs From Courtroom If He Continues To Interact With Jurors
With the jury absent, Judge Arun Subramanian warned defense attorneys in a sidebar that he might exclude the defendant from the Lower Manhattan courtroom if he continued to look, nod or make facial expressions at jurors, CNN reported.
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The admonition came after Subramanian said he saw Combs looking at and 'nodding vigorously' toward the jury twice during today's cross-examination of prosecution witness Bryana Bongolan, who had told the court Wednesday that the defendant had dangled her off a 17th-story balcony in 2016.
Subramanian told defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo that he had been clear that there were to be no theatrics during Combs' trial on federal charges of racketeering, sex trafficking, transportation to engage in prostitution and more. 'I looked and I saw your client looking at the jury and nodding vigorously,' CNN reported the judge telling the attorney. 'It is absolutely unacceptable.'
Asked by the jurist if it would happen again, Agnifilo said per CNN that it would not. Subramanian said that if there was any further juror interaction by Combs, he might instruct the jury about it and, potentially, consider barring the defendant from the courtroom.
Combs, 55, faces up to life in prison if convicted.
At the four-week mark of the trial, the jury of eight men and four women in the courtroom has heard explicit and sometimes heartrending testimony about rapes, emotional and physical violence, blackmail, and filmed drug-juiced 'freak-offs' from Combs' former longtime girlfriend Cassie Ventura and his ex-personal assistant 'Mia.'
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