Juror Tossed Out Of Sean 'Diddy' Combs Trial For Perceived 'Lying'; Judge Admonishes Defense For Claiming Racial Bias
In a widely expected move and over the opposition of the defense, Judge Arun Subramanian this morning confirmed his decision of June 13 to dismiss Juror No. 6 from the high-profile trial. Immediately replaced by one of the alternates, the exit of the juror in question will not delay the proceedings at all.
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The much-accused 55-year-old Combs was arrested in September 2024 in a New York hotel lobby by a phalanx of police and federal officials on federal charges of racketeering, sex trafficking, transportation to engage in prostitution and more. On trial in the lower Manhattan courtroom and facing testimony for his ex-longtime girlfriend Cassie Ventura, other former lovers and women alleging abuse, rape and assault, male escorts, past employees, Grammy-winning rapper Kid Cudie, and law enforcement officials, Diddy is facing life behind bars if found guilty by the still-eight men and four women jury.
The now ex-juror in question, a 41-year-old Black man who works in an administrative role at a state correctional facility, had started to give an alternating tale of where he actually lived, if it was in NYC or in New Jersey with a fiancée. 'The changing answers and inconsistency give the court worry about deception and lying,' the judge said last week, promising to ponder his decision over the weekend.
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Over the weekend, the defense wrote to Judge Subramanian unsuccessfully once again requesting a mistrial and claiming, as they have on a number of occasions before, the U.S. Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York has a racial bias. The government's motion must be evaluated in light of the entire history of this investigation and prosecution, and not in isolation,' said defense attorney Alexandra A.E. Shapiro in the heavily redacted correspondence of June 15 (read entire letter here). 'Unfortunately, when considered against that background it is impossible to believe that this motion is merely a good-faith attempt to raise a valid question about the juror's integrity rather than an effort to take advantage of an opportunity to strike yet another black male from the jury.
Praising the court's 'well-reasoned conclusion' of June 13 on Juror No. 6's fate, U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton replied for his prosecution team early this morning.
'The Government respectfully writes in response to the defense's letter filed earlier this Evening' Clayton wrote, apparently getting his evenings slightly mistaken. 'Despite the Court's clear ruling on the necessity of removing Juror (redacted) the defense again attempts to cast the Government's motion to remove the juror as racially motivated. As the Court recognized on Friday after the defense first lobbed this baseless accusation, nothing could be further from the truth. Instead, as the Court laid out in detail after a careful review of the record, inconsistent statements made by Juror (redacted) during voir dire and in later colloquies relating to basic biographical information indicated a lack of candor.' (Read the government's response here).
Almost first thing Monday, before the jury was brought in, Judge Subramanian told the prosecution and the defense that he was still removing Juror No. 6.
The usually mild mannered judge also directly addressed the issue of racial bias.
'The defense asked the Court to base its decision on race,' he told the courtroom, with a pretty placid Combs sitting nearby. 'That would be inappropriate. So, Juror 6 is excused and is replaced by the first alternate.'
Promising to deal with an issue involving another juror later Monday, Judge Subramanian added of Juror No. 6: 'As to the defense's allegation of prosecutorial misconduct here, that is inviting the Court to make a decision based on race – and cannot be granted.'
With that, the revamped jury was brought in and testimony continued in the prosecution's case.The new Juror No. 6 is a 57-year-old manufacturing architect who lives in Westchester County with his family. He is White.
Emphasizing so-called 'summary witnesses' at this point, the feds are expected to end their presentation later this week. The defense has estimated its case could take up to four weeks, with no ironclad decision yet if Combs will testify.
At the start of the trial, the judge told the jurors and alternates that the trial would be over by the July 4 holiday. For anyone who has a calendar, that penciled in deadline is looking pretty unlikely at this juncture.
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