(Updated with more details) Sean “Diddy” Combs has been found guilty on two counts in his sex-trafficking trial, the jury said today.
After a total of just 13 hours in the jury room, the eight men and four women panel found the Bad Boy Records founder guilty of transportation to engage in prostitution. However, in a mixed verdict just read out by the foreman, the jury found Combs not guilty of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy.
The two counts under the engaging in prostitution charge carry a decade behind bars maximum sentence each. Surely stinging from being defeated on the major RICO charge, prosecutors do not think Combs should be allowed out on bond, which is what the defense are arguing for with a million dollars on the table. The defense also want their client to be able to travel to homes in Florida, LA and the Empire State.
Judge Arun Subramanian has asked both sides to submit their POVs to him and the court will gather this afternoon on the bond matter.
Certain to face an appeal no matter if the bond is granted or not, today’s decision comes after two tense days filled with notes from the jury and an admission late on July 1 that there were “unpersuadable opinions on both sides” when it came to the pivotal racketeering charge. With verdicts on counts 2, 3,4, and 5 — a.k.a. the two sex-trafficking charges and the two charges of transportation to engage in prostitution – it looked like the month and a half long trial may stumble into a partial verdict at best or worse yet, a mistrial.
After the verdict was read out, the judge in the case praised the jury, which had a rocky ride at times: “I want you to know that it is inspiring to all of us. You listened, you worked together, you were here every day, rain or shine.”
Following nearly a year of abuse and assault allegations, started for the most part by a very quickly settled ($20 million) suit from former girlfriend Cassie Ventura, Combs was arrested in New York City in on September on criminal charges. The Bad Boy Records founder was hit with charges of racketeering, sex trafficking, transportation to engage in prostitution and more. Failing repeatedly to regain his freedom with a $50 million bail pitch, Combs has been in custody at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center ever since.
Filled with often harrowing testimony from a then very pregnant Ventura (who got snared in a defense fastball revealing a $10 million payout from an LA hotel over a violent 2016 incident by Combs), as well as other rape and abuse accusers’ “Jane” and “Mia,” the trial began at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse in lower Manhattan on May 12. As well as the three victims (and minus a Victim 2 who simply disappeared mere days before the trial), the jury heard from various male escorts hired for the drug drenched and often filmed “freak-off” sex sessions, rap star Kid Cudi, former Combs employees, law enforcement officials and an expert or two in the prosecution’s dense case.
In a tactic straight out of Harvey Weinstein’s last rape retrial, the defense decided not to put their client on the stand and wrapped up their case in around 30 minutes last week with no witnesses at all. In the midnight hour just before closing arguments, the feds trimmed and culled some of the initial charges against Combs claims in what they called an effort to “streamline” the case.
Attracting a lot of last-minute attention, the largely procedural move changed nothing when it came to a possible outcome of the 55-year-old Combs spending the rest of his life in a federal prison if found guilty on all the charges.
However, for about an hour on Tuesday it looked as if the case against Combs could at least partially collapse under the weight of the jury’s deadlock.
Buoyed by a rare scenario of agreement between the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York and Combs 10-lawyer defense bench that the jury should keep deliberating, Judge Arun Subramanian eventually asked the panel to keep at it a bit longer in hopes of reaching a unified verdict. The irony of sorts is that the judge’s borderline pleading came right at the end of the day on Tuesday and the non-sequestered jurors went home soon afterwards anyway.
The New York dozen were back in the courthouse Wednesday at around 9 a.m. ET and back behind closed doors deliberating.
Surrounded by members of his family like his mother (a near constant presence during the trial) and children, plus lawyers Marc Agnifilo, Alexandra Shapiro, Brian Steel, and others, the now white-haired and sweater wearing Combs was in Judge Subramanian’s courtroom first thing this morning too. At one point, Combs took to prayer with members of his family joining in. “Let us pray, please watch over my family,” the All About the Benjamins performer said, getting an “Amen” in reply from those assembled.
After the verdict was delivered, Cassie Ventura’s lawyer Doug Wigdor put out a statement praising his client. “Although the jury did not find Combs guilty of sex trafficking Cassie beyond a reasonable doubt, she paved the way for a jury to find him guilty of transportation to engage in prostitution,” the attorney said in part. “By coming forward with her experience, Cassie has left an indelible mark on both the entertainment industry and the fight for justice.”
