The trafficking trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs, one of many largest music moguls and cultural figures of the previous 4 many years, started Monday in New York with jury choice. Twelve jurors and 6 alternates shall be chosen, with opening statements anticipated to start on May 12. The trial is anticipated to final a minimum of eight weeks.
The alleged offenses span from about 2004 till about 2024. Two of the counts have been added a month earlier than trial.
The indictment towards him says he for years with assist from a community of associates and staff whereas silencing victims by blackmail and violence, together with kidnapping, arson and bodily beatings.
Prosecutors allege he used his as a music star to induce into drugged-up, elaborately produced sexual performances with male intercourse staff in occasions dubbed “freak offs.”
Prosecutors revealed shortly earlier than trial that Combs rejected a plea settlement that may have meant a lighter sentence than a conviction might. They didn’t disclose the phrases of the proposed deal.
Without figuring out them publicly, prosecutors have stated 4 of Combs’ accusers will testify on the trial.
The prosecution shall be allowed to indicate the jury safety video of certainly one of his accusers, the R&B singer Cassie, in a Los Angeles lodge hallway in 2016.
Diddy’s attorneys are anticipated to argue at trial that the federal government is demonizing and distorting the sexual exercise of consenting adults. They have additionally argued that two of Combs’ longtime girlfriends willingly introduced a male intercourse employee into their relationship.
Cassie, whose authorized title is Cassandra Ventura, was Combs’ on-again-off-again romantic associate for greater than a decade. Her 2023 lawsuit towards Combs alleging years of abuse, together with rape, started the scrutiny that finally led to his prosecution.
The Associated Press doesn’t usually title individuals who say they’ve been sexually abused except they arrive ahead publicly, as Ventura did.
The trial is within the courtroom of U.S. District . He’s a Columbia Law School graduate and former clerk for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who was appointed a federal choose by President Joe Biden in 2022.
The prosecution workforce consists of eight assistant U.S. attorneys, seven of them girls. They embody Maurene Ryan Comey, daughter of former FBI Director James Comey. She was among the many prosecutors within the trial of , who was convicted of luring teenage women to be sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein.
Combs’ workforce of seven protection attorneys is led by New York lawyer Marc Agnifilo, who alongside along with his spouse Karen Friedman Agnifilo, can be defending Luigi Mangione, the person accused of the homicide of .
Also on the protection workforce is Atlanta legal professional Brian Steel, who represented in a trial that went on for almost two years earlier than the rapper pleaded responsible to gang, drug and gun expenses.
Combs, 55, has been held at a federal jail in Brooklyn since his . His previously jet black hair is now virtually fully grey as a result of dye is not allowed at detention heart.
Combs, who had his personal trend line, has worn yellow jail uniforms in pretrial hearings.
But for the trial, the choose stated he can have as much as 5 button-down shirts, 5 pairs of pants, 5 sweaters, 5 pairs of socks and two pairs of footwear with out laces.
Under federal court docket guidelines, no pictures or video of the trial shall be allowed. Courtroom sketches are permitted.
Since 2023, dozens of lady and males have been submitting lawsuits towards Combs claiming that he sexually or bodily abused them. Many of these folks stated they have been slipped medicine at occasions hosted by Combs and have been abused whereas they have been incapacitated.
Combs has denied all the allegations by his legal professionals.
Some of these lawsuits have claimed that different celebrities have been both current for or participated within the abuse.
The nice majority of these allegations, nevertheless, aren’t a part of the felony case. Prosecutors have chosen to give attention to a comparatively small variety of accusers and allegations the place there’s bodily proof or corroboration by witnesses.
Source: www.anews.com.tr