A SPLIT verdict has been reached in the federal racketeering and sex trafficking trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs.
The courtroom received a letter from the jury at around 4:05 pm on Tuesday, informing the judge that jurors had reached a verdict on four of the five counts.
The note said the jury reached a verdict on counts 2-5, which are the sex trafficking and transportation for engaging in prostitution charges.
However, it also indicated that jurors were unable to agree unanimously on count 1 – the racketeering conspiracy charge.
Combs faces a maximum 10-year prison sentence if convicted of either prostitution charge, and a minimum of 15 years if convicted of either sex trafficking count.
He faces a life sentence if convicted on the racketeering conspiracy charge.
Judge Arun Subramanian ruled to give the jury more time to deliberate over the deadlocked charge after receiving proposals from the prosecution and the defense on how to move forward with the split verdict.
Moments later, the judge dismissed the jury for the day and instructed them to continue their deliberation on count 1 on Wednesday morning.
BLISTERING CLOSING ARGUMENTS
In closing arguments, prosecutors described Combs as the “leader of a criminal enterprise” who used his expansive “wealth, power, violence, and fear to get what he wanted.”
“He thought that his fame, wealth and power put him above the law,” Assistant US Attorney Christy Slavik said.
“It was his kingdom. Everyone was there to serve him.”
The core evidence of the prosecution’s case was the disturbing and graphic nature of the drug-fueled “freak-offs” that at times Combs allegedly coerced his ex-girlfriends to participate in with male escorts.
Slavik described to jurors how Combs forced his former lovers Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura and “Jane” into participating in the punishing sex marathons and with the help of an inner circle of “loyal lieutenants” covered up the alleged crimes.
Ventura and Jane were sometimes required to perform the lewd acts, which were also called “hotel nights and wild king nights,” while they were hurting from urinary tract infections (UTIs), according to prosecutors.
Ventura testified that the choreographed encounters, which she said were directed by Combs, could last days, with the longest she ever participated in being four days.
On the other hand, Combs’ defense team slammed the prosecution’s case as an attack on “your bedroom” and one’s sex life.
“They go into the man’s bedroom. They go into the man’s most private life. Where is the crime scene? The crime scene is your private sex life. That’s the crime scene,” Marc Agnifilo, Combs’ lead defense attorney, said during closing arguments.
Agnifilo summarized the seven-week trial as a “tale of two trials,” arguing one side is the one told by the evidence of the case, by witnesses, videos, and text messages, and the other was a “badly, badly, exaggerated” story told by prosecutors.
The defense attorney argued the sexual encounters involving Combs, Ventura, “Jane,” and male escorts were consensual, and called the “freak-offs,” which were sometimes video recorded, “homemade porn.”
“You want to call it swingers, you want to call it threesomes, whatever you want to call it, that is what it is – that’s what the evidence shows,” Agnifilo told the jury.
Source : https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/14592626/sean-diddy-combs-sex-trafficking-trial-verdict/
