Jury begins listening to opening statements in Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ intercourse trafficking trial – Boston Information, Climate, Sports activities

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal prosecutor started summarizing the state’s case Monday within the Sean “Diddy” Combs intercourse trafficking trial, telling jurors that the hip-hop and enterprise icon coerced ladies into drugged-fueled sexual encounters and stored them in line by violence.

“That is Sean Combs,” federal prosecutor Emily Johnson informed the Manhattan jury as she pointed at him. Combs leaned again in his chair as she spoke. “To the general public he was Puff Daddy or Diddy. A cultural icon. A businessman. Bigger than life.

“However there was one other facet to him. A facet that ran a prison enterprise,” Johnson stated. “Throughout this trial you’re going to hear about 20 years of the defendant’s crimes. However he didn’t do it alone. He had an inside circle of bodyguards and high-ranking workers who helped him commit crimes and canopy them up.”

These crimes, she stated, included: Kidnapping, arson, medication, intercourse crimes, bribery and obstruction.

The protection’s opening assertion was to comply with.

Combs, sporting a white sweater, entered the packed courtroom shortly earlier than 9 a.m., hugged his attorneys and gave a thumbs as much as supporters seated behind him. Earlier, the road to get into the courthouse stretched down the block. Combs’ mom and a few of his kids have been escorted previous the group and introduced straight into the constructing.

Monday’s proceedings started with prosecutors and the protection rejecting a number of candidates for the 12-person jury, which additionally consists of six alternates. Testimony will start after the edges current their opening statements.

Combs, 55, pleaded not responsible to a five-count indictment that might land him in jail for a minimum of 15 years if he’s convicted on all expenses. He has been held at a federal jail in Brooklyn since his arrest in September.

Legal professionals for the three-time Grammy winner say prosecutors are wrongly making an attempt to make against the law out of a party-loving life-style which will have been indulgent, however was not unlawful.

Prosecutors say Combs coerced ladies into drugged-up group sexual encounters, then stored them in line by violence. He’s accused of choking, hitting, kicking and dragging ladies, typically by the hair.

Earlier than jury choice was accomplished, each side struck the utmost variety of potential decisions they have been allowed, with the protection dismissing 10 and prosecutors eliminating six. U.S. District Choose Arun Subramanian rejected protection attorneys’ claims that the prosecution was being discriminatory by putting seven Black individuals from the jury, saying Assistant U.S. Lawyer Maurene Comey had given “race-neutral causes.”

Subramanian informed jurors that the courtroom would protect their identities from public view, a standard follow in federal instances to maintain juries nameless, significantly in delicate, high-profile issues the place juror security is a priority.

Subramanian additionally informed jurors to evaluate the case solely based mostly on the proof offered in courtroom — a regular instruction however one which carried added significance on this high-profile case, which has been the topic of intense media protection. “Something you’ve seen or heard outdoors the courtroom will not be proof,” the choose stated. “It have to be disregarded.”

Combs’ former girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, is predicted to be among the many trial’s early witnesses.

She filed a lawsuit in 2023 saying Combs had subjected her to years of abuse, together with beatings and rape. The lawsuit was settled inside hours of its submitting, however it touched off a regulation enforcement investigation and was adopted by dozens of lawsuits from individuals making comparable claims.

Prosecutors plan to point out jurors video a safety digicam video of Combs beating Cassie within the hallway of a Los Angeles resort in 2016.

Jurors can also see recordings of occasions referred to as “Freak Offs,” the place prosecutors say ladies had intercourse with male intercourse staff whereas Combs filmed them. The indictment stated the occasions typically lasted days and members required IV-drips to recuperate.

Combs’ lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, has stated that the Unhealthy Boy Data founder was “not an ideal particular person” and was present process remedy, together with for drug use, earlier than his arrest.

However he and different attorneys for Combs have argued that any group intercourse was consensual and any violence was an aberration.

After the video of Combs assaulting Cassie within the resort aired on CNN final 12 months, Combs apologized and stated he took “full accountability” for his actions. “I used to be disgusted then after I did it. I’m disgusted now.”

The Related Press doesn’t usually establish individuals who say they’re victims of sexual abuse except they arrive ahead publicly, as Cassie, whose authorized identify is Casandra Ventura, has finished.

The trial is predicted to final a minimum of eight weeks.