The jury in the high-profile federal sex-trafficking and racketeering conspiracy trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs resumed deliberations on Tuesday morning, after spending more than five hours weighing the charges on Monday without reaching a verdict.
Combs, 55, was arrested in September and faces five felony counts: one count of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of sex trafficking and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges and denies all of the accusations against him.
If convicted, Combs could spend the rest of his life in prison.
The 12-member jury – composed of eight men and four women – began deliberating on Monday following closing arguments that concluded last week and detailed instructions from the judge.
Roughly an hour into deliberations on Monday, jurors sent a note to the court raising concerns about one of the jurors – Juror 25 – stating that they believed that the juror “cannot follow your honor’s instructions”.
Judge Arun Subramanian, who is overseeing the case, responded to the jurors with a note reminding them of their duty to deliberate and obligation to follow his instructions on the law. He also instructed them to refrain from sharing any details about their discussions in future notes.
Before adjourning for the day, the jury sent another note to the court, this time requesting clarification on what qualifies as drug distribution – an allegation tied to the racketeering conspiracy charge.
The jurors asked whether giving drugs to someone who asked for them qualifies as distributing controlled substances. The judge said that he would respond on Tuesday morning.
The jury deliberated for five and a half hours on Monday without reaching a verdict, and adjourned at 5pm ET. They resumed deliberations on Tuesday morning.
On Tuesday morning, the judge conferred with both sides and sent the jury a note pointing to a passage in the charging document.
The passage reads: “The word ‘distribution’ means actual, constructive, or attempted transfer. To distribute simply means to deliver, to pass over, or to hand over something to another person, or to cause it to be delivered, passed on, or handed over to another. Distribution does not require a sale.”
About 10.30am ET on Tuesday, the jury submitted another note to the court, this time asking for transcripts of testimony given bytwo witnesses: Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, one of Combs’s former girlfriends and the government’s key witness in this case, and Daniel Phillip, who testified that he was hired to participate in the so-called “freak offs”.
Central to the government’s case are accusations that Combs used violence, intimidation, money, threats and power to force and coerce two of his former girlfriends into participating in highly orchestrated drug-fueled sex marathons with hired male escorts, known as “freak-offs”.
Prosecutors allege that for more than two decades, Combs led a criminal enterprise – aided by employees and associates – that engaged in and worked to cover up a range of crimes including sex trafficking, kidnapping, forced labor, drug distribution, arson and bribery, enticement to engage in prostitution and obstruction of justice.
Throughout the seven-week trial, the defense maintained that all sexual encounters were consensual and part of what they described as a “swingers lifestyle”. They argued that no criminal conspiracy existed and that Combs was being unfairly prosecuted for his “private” and “personal” sex life.
His lawyers have acknowledged past instances of domestic violence, but they have denied any acts of sex trafficking or coercion.
The trial began on 12 May, and jurors heard testimony from 34 witnesses, including two of Combs’s former girlfriends, multiple former employees and assistants, several male escorts, stylists, hotel workers, law enforcement agents and well-known figures such as the rapper Kid Cudi and singer Dawn Richard, among others.