NEW YORK (news agencies) — The jury in Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex trafficking trial said Tuesday that it has reached a verdict on four of five counts against the hip-hop mogul. But the partial decision remained under wraps after jurors were told to keep deliberating because they were stuck on the top charge, racketeering conspiracy.
Prosecutors, Combs’ defense team and Judge Arun Subramanian reasoned that after just two days of deliberations, it was too soon to give up on reaching a verdict on all counts. So rather than taking a partial verdict, Subramanian told the jury to continue weighing the remaining charge. Deliberations will continue Wednesday.
The developments came late Tuesday afternoon, when the jury sent a note saying it was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on the racketeering conspiracy charge because there were jurors with “unpersuadable” views on both sides.
But in less than 13 hours of deliberations, the jury did reach a verdict on two counts of sex trafficking and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. The latter concerns allegations of arranging to fly the women and sex workers across state lines.
If there is a conviction, the sex trafficking charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life. Transportation to engage in prostitution carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
The outstanding charge, racketeering conspiracy, carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
After hearing about the jury note, Combs, 55, appeared morose as his lawyers spoke with him. At one point, the hip-hop mogul solemnly read a piece of paper that attorney Marc Agnifilo handed to him.
After the jury came in for instructions and then exited the room, a subdued Combs sat in his chair for a few minutes. As he stood to leave, he faced his relatives and supporters in the audience, blew a kiss and tapped his heart, as he frequently has done at the start and end of each day.
Then he paused before his mother and exchanged a few words, telling her, “Love you” and “I’ll be all right.”
Marshals then led him from the room.
Jurors are weighing charges that Combs used his fame, wealth and violence to force two girlfriends into drug-fueled sex marathons with male sex workers known as “freak-offs” or “hotel nights.”
He has pleaded not guilty. His lawyers contend prosecutors are trying to criminalize Combs’ swinger lifestyle and that, if anything, his conduct amounted to domestic violence, not federal felonies.
Racketeering conspiracy is the most complicated charge because it requires the jury to decide not only whether Combs ran a “racketeering enterprise,” but also whether he was involved in committing such offenses as some or all of various types of offenses, such as kidnapping and arson.
Earlier Tuesday, the jury asked to review critical testimony from one of the prosecution’s most important witnesses: the hip-hop mogul’s former longtime girlfriend Cassie, the R&B singer born Casandra Ventura.
The panel of eight men and four women asked for Cassie’s account of Combs beating, kicking and dragging her at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016 — an assault captured on now-infamous security camera footage.
