A New York Jury has discovered Sean “Diddy” Combs responsible of two counts and never responsible on three counts, following a intently watched seven-week federal trial marked by emotional and graphic testimony.
The combined verdict noticed Combs being discovered not responsible of the largest cost, racketeering conspiracy, not responsible of the intercourse trafficking of Casandra Ventura or the intercourse trafficking of “Jane”, and responsible of each the transportation to interact in prostitution associated to Casandra Ventura and the transportation to interact in prostitution associated to “Jane”.
The decision was delivered on Wednesday morning, after 13 hours throughout three days of deliberation by a jury composed of eight males and 4 ladies.
After the decision got here down, Combs knelt down in entrance of his chair and appeared to wish. He then confronted the gallery and clapped, which led to the gallery responding with claps and cheers.
In a while Wednesday, Choose Arun Subramanian denied Combs’s request that he be launched on bail, saying that he had demonstrated a “disregard for the rule of law and a propensity of violence”. Combs has been incarcerated in a federal detention facility in Brooklyn since his September arrest. The choose additionally proposed a sentencing date of three October, however stated he was keen to maneuver up the date on the protection’s request.
“I’ll see you when I get out,” Combs instructed members of the family together with his mom and youngsters simply earlier than leaving the courtroom to return to jail. “We’re going to get through this.”
Combs’s lawyer Marc Agnifilo referred to as the decision a “great victory” and stated the jury “got the situation right – or certainly right enough” as he stood outdoors Manhattan federal courtroom at a stand of microphones. “Today is a victory of all victories.”
With acquittals on the costs that would have seen Combs be put behind bars for all times, he faces a most of 10 years every for the 2 counts of transportation to interact in prostitution. Assistant US lawyer Maurene Comey confirmed on Wednesday that the federal government intends to hunt a sentence of incarceration.
Combs’s attorneys stated that beneath federal sentencing pointers, he would doubtless face about two years in jail. Prosecutors, citing Combs’s violence and different components, stated the rules would name for at the least 4 to 5 years. Locked up since his September arrest, Combs has already served 9 months.
“We fight on and we’re going to win,” Agnifilo stated. “And we’re not going to stop until he walks out of prison a free man to his family.”
On Tuesday night, the jury introduced that it had reached a verdict on 4 of the 5 counts – two counts of intercourse trafficking and two counts transportation to interact in prostitution – however stated that they had been unable to make a decision on the racketeering conspiracy cost. On Wednesday, the jury returned with the decision on that remaining depend.
Combs, 55, had pleaded not responsible to 1 depend of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of intercourse trafficking and two counts of transportation to interact in prostitution.
Prosecutors accused Combs of working his enterprise empire as a legal enterprise, courting again to at the least 2004, to hold out and conceal numerous crimes together with intercourse trafficking, kidnapping, arson, bribery, compelled labor, drug distribution, enticement to interact in prostitution and obstruction of justice, with assist from staff and shut associates.
The federal government alleged that Combs used his energy and wealth, in addition to violence and threats of blackmail, to coerce ladies into complying and collaborating in what had been described as drug-induced sexual marathons usually involving one among Combs’s girlfriends and male escorts, known as “freak-offs”.
All through the trial, which started on 12 Might, the protection acknowledged previous situations of home violence, however denied that any coercion or intercourse trafficking came about and maintained that all sexual exercise was consensual and a part of a “swingers lifestyle”. They claimed Combs was being wrongly prosecuted for his personal intercourse life and likewise denied that any legal conspiracy existed.
Over seven weeks, the federal government referred to as 34 witnesses, together with two of Combs’s former girlfriends, a number of former staff and assistants, male escorts, resort workers, regulation enforcement brokers and public figures equivalent to rapper Child Cudi and singer Daybreak Richard and others. Combs didn’t testify.
Central to the prosecution’s case had been the accounts from the 2 former girlfriends and alleged victims: singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura and a lady recognized as “Jane”.
Each delivered uncooked and emotional testimony, alleging that Combs coerced them into collaborating within the frequent and generally days-long “freak-offs”.
They each described the alleged “freak-offs” in graphic element, and testified that Combs directed, watched, masturbated through the encounters and generally filmed.
Ventura testified that over the course of their decade-long relationship, Combs subjected her to bodily abuse and blackmail.
She additionally alleged that he raped her after their breakup in 2018, and testified that Combs would at instances threaten to launch specific footage of her, threaten to chop off monetary assist or stifle her profession if she acted in methods he didn’t like.
Jurors had been proven the 2016 resort surveillance footage of Combs attacking Ventura in a resort hallway. In addition they heard from a number of witnesses who testified that they noticed Combs be violent towards Ventura.
Jane echoed a lot of Ventura’s claims, and testified that she repeatedly instructed the music mogul that she now not wished to take part within the “freak-offs”. She stated that he was dismissive and would strain her, and that she felt “obligated” to take part as he paid her hire. She stated Combs would threaten to cease paying when she voiced discomfort with the sexual encounters.
Throughout cross-examination, Combs’s attorneys sought to painting each Ventura and Jane as keen and consenting members within the “freak-offs”, pointing to specific and affectionate textual content exchanges with Combs by which the ladies appeared to talk positively in regards to the encounters. The protection additionally continuously requested in regards to the position that jealousy and drug use performed of their relationships.
A 3rd lady, a former assistant to Combs who testified beneath the pseudonym “Mia”, alleged that Combs bodily and sexually assaulted her throughout her employment, and stated that she felt “trapped” and feared retaliation.
Protection attorneys steered that she fabricated the allegations, and cited social media posts and messages by which she praised Combs after the alleged assaults.
A handful of witnesses testified beneath immunity offers, together with a number of of Combs’s private assistants who claimed that they had been tasked with acquiring medication for Combs.
Some former staff additionally testified that they might inventory resort rooms with child oil and condoms and different gadgets forward of the “freak-offs” after which clear up afterward and stated that defending Combs’s public picture was “very important”.
All through the trial, the protection sought to undermine the credibility of the prosecution’s witnesses. They pointed to inconsistencies in witness testimony and steered that monetary motivation performed a job amongst those that have filed civil fits towards the music mogul.
The federal government rested its case on 24 June. The protection adopted swimsuit later that day, opting to name no witnesses, as an alternative submitting extra proof to the courtroom and counting on its in depth cross-examinations.
Closing arguments had been delivered final week.
Prosecutors recapped their case towards Combs, revisiting key testimony and breaking down every cost towards the music mogul, portray him as a “leader of a criminal enterprise” who refused to take “no for an answer” and who used “power, violence and fear to get what he wanted”.
They argued that Combs was highly effective however that he “became more powerful and more dangerous because of the support of his inner circle and his businesses”.
The protection countered, and urged the the jury to acquit Combs and reject what they referred to as an “exaggerated” and “false” case by the federal government.
Combs’s lawyer challenged witness testimony from the trial, pushed again on the federal government’s allegations and expenses, and disputed the prosecution’s portrayal of Ventura and Jane as sex-trafficking victims, describing them as an alternative as ladies with company who willingly participated within the “freak-offs”.
Although Combs didn’t testify, he remained visibly engaged all through the proceedings, continuously conferring along with his authorized group and reacting visibly to testimony.
Individually, Combs nonetheless faces dozens of civil lawsuits accusing him of sexual assault. He has denied sexually assaulting anybody.
