NEW YORK (AP) — The final stage of jury selection for the racketeering and sex trafficking trial of hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs was postponed until early next week, right before opening arguments begin, a federal judge decided on Friday.
Prosecutors allege that Combs, 55, used his fame and power at the top of the hip-hop world to sexually abuse women from 2004 to 2024. He pleaded not guilty after his September arrest and has remained held without bail at a federal lockup in Brooklyn.
Judge Arun Subramanian granted a request by defense lawyers to delay until Monday the final step in the jury selection process, expected to last less than an hour. Prosecutors unsuccessfully objected.
The possible jurors were not present on Friday as federal prosecutors and lawyers assembled in a Manhattan courtroom, with Combs also present, to narrow a pool of 45 prospective jurors down to a jury of 12 and six alternates who will hear the two-month trial.
For three days this week, would-be jurors had been asked questions to help the judge and lawyers determine if they could be fair and impartial. And they were also questioned to ensure they could decide the case on the facts even after seeing explicit videos of sexual activity that some might find disturbing.
On Monday, prosecutors will be permitted to strike six prospective jurors from the jury while defense lawyers were allowed 10 strikes before the jury is finalized. Generally, lawyers do not have to explain why they are ejecting individuals from the panel. The process was expected to take up to an hour.
If Combs is convicted on all charges, which include racketeering, kidnapping, arson, bribery and sex trafficking, he would face a mandatory 15 years in prison and could remain behind bars for life.
Prosecutors allege that the Bad Boy Records founder used his fame and power at the top of the hip-hop world to sexually abuse women from 2004 to 2024.
An indictment includes descriptions of “Freak Offs,” drugged-up orgies in which women were forced to have sex with male sex workers while Combs filmed them.
The charges against him also portray Combs as abusive to his victims, sometimes choking, hitting, kicking and dragging them, often by the hair. Once, the indictment alleges, he even dangled someone from a balcony.
His lawyers contend that prosecutors are trying to criminalize sexual activity between consenting adults. They concede that Combs had abused various substances but say he has undergone treatment.
A centerpiece of the evidence against him are recordings of Combs beating a longtime girlfriend in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016.
After a video of the encounter aired on CNN last year, Combs apologized, saying, “I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I was disgusted then when I did it. I’m disgusted now.”
Numerous prospective jurors interviewed by the judge this week said they had seen the video and some were deemed to be too affected by it to be impartial and remain in the jury pool.
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