New York (AFP) – The first day of jury selection wrapped Monday in New York in the blockbuster federal sex trafficking trial of music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, who stands accused of years of harrowing abuse. Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty on all counts, insisting that any sex acts were consensual, but prosecutors say that for years, he coerced victims into drug-fueled sex parties using threats and violence.
“Come on up, don’t be shy,” Judge Arun Subramanian said as the first batch of prospective panelists entered. As at his pre-trial hearings, Combs appeared aged, his once jet-black hair now gray. In accordance with the judge’s order, he was allowed to switch from prison attire to civilian clothing for his trial appearance. Jurors were given a supplementary 14-part questionnaire about their ability to fairly hear evidence from hip-hop artists, sex workers, and people involved in the use and distribution of drugs. They had already undertaken an exhaustive questionnaire on their ability to serve before arrival.
After a marathon day of questions, both written and oral from the judge, prosecution, and defense, 19 prospectives had been identified. Jury selection was due to continue Tuesday with only those potential jurors requested to attend follow-up questioning required to be present. Subramanian said he expected evidence to begin May 12. Combs faces one charge of racketeering conspiracy, the federal statute known by its acronym RICO that was once primarily used to target the mafia but in recent years has been wielded in cases of sexual abuse, including against the fallen R&B star R. Kelly. It allows government attorneys to project a long view of criminal activity rather than prosecuting isolated sex crimes. If convicted, the one-time rap producer and global superstar, who is often credited for his role in ushering hip-hop into the mainstream, could spend the rest of his life in prison. He reportedly turned down an 11th-hour plea deal.
Over the decades, Combs — who has gone by various stage names including Puff Daddy and P. Diddy — amassed enormous wealth for his work in music but also his ventures in the liquor industry. He was arrested by federal agents in New York in September 2024 and denied bail multiple times. Combs is being held at Brooklyn’s notorious Metropolitan Detention Center, a facility plagued by complaints of vermin and decay as well as violence.
Core to the case against him is his relationship with his former girlfriend, singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, who is expected to be a key trial witness. A disturbing surveillance video from 2016, which was widely broadcast by CNN last year, shows Combs physically assaulting Ventura at a hotel. Prosecutors say that encounter occurred following one of the “freak-offs” — coercive, drug-fueled sexual marathons including sex workers that were sometimes filmed, according to the indictment. It is unclear how much of the CNN video will be shown to jurors as evidence — the footage’s quality has been a sticking point between the opposing legal teams — but Subramanian has ruled that at least some of it will be admissible.
On Monday, one prospective juror was struck out for cause by the judge after describing the video as potentially “damning.” Another was dismissed after saying that his wife, a former attorney, had told him about taking depositions related to a deadly crowd crush at an event organized by Combs in 1991. “She found his behavior disturbing; she does not like him,” said the man.
In 2023, Ventura filed a civil suit alleging Combs subjected her to more than a decade of coercion by physical force and drugs as well as a 2018 rape. It was quickly settled out of court, but a string of similarly lurid sexual assault claims against the Grammy winner from both women and men followed. Industry watchers are monitoring Combs’s case as a potential inflection point in the music world which, beyond the case of Kelly, has largely evaded the #MeToo reckoning that has rocked Hollywood. Caroline Heldman — co-founder of the Sound Off Coalition, which is focused on sexual violence in music — said Combs’s case is a flashpoint of a broader pattern of industry tolerance and cover-up of abuse.
“In the music industry, I think it’s the perfect storm of what celebrity does to people and what power does to people. It gives them an empathy deficit where the rules don’t apply to them,” she said. The proceedings will last an estimated eight to 10 weeks.
© 2024 AFP
