Jury selection in the Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs sex trafficking trial proceeds for a second day
By LARRY NEUMEISTER
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — Jury selection resumed for a second day in the sex trafficking trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs as a federal judge and lawyers worked Tuesday to find a dozen New Yorkers who believe they can be fair despite any opinions they may have developed about the music mogul.
Prosecutors say Combs exploited his fame and fortune to sexually abuse women and destroy young lives while defense attorneys say he engaged in sexual activity with consenting adults.
The majority of prospective jurors questioned on Tuesday morning were disqualified after lawyers for Combs and prosecutors cited flaws in their answers to questions designed to see if they can be fair and unbiased.
Several who were eliminated from the jury pool had seen or heard media reports related to the case, including some who said they saw a video in which Combs was hitting and kicking one of his accusers in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016.
But one man who had written on a questionnaire that the video left him with the “impression of an angry hostile person who is entitled” was not dismissed from the jury pool.
After the video 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.”
Judge Arun Subramanian was seeking to build a pool of 45 prospective jurors from which a panel of 12 jurors and several alternates can be chosen. Nineteen were chosen on Monday and six more by noon Tuesday.
Opening statements are scheduled to be presented on Monday for a trial projected to last up to two months.
Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to a five-count indictment charging him with leading a racketeering conspiracy from 2004 to 2024 that resulted in various crimes, including kidnapping, arson, bribery and sex trafficking.
The Bad Boy Records founder has been held without bail since his arrest at a Manhattan hotel last September.
