A jury has been finalized in Sean “Diddy” Combs’ federal sex-crimes trial, but not without some pushback.
Combs’ defense team expressed concern that prosecutors were unfairly excluding Black jurors ahead of the final juror selection on May 12.
“Your honor, the government has struck seven Black people out of nine strikes, which we believe amounts to a pattern,” Combs’ lead defense attorney Marc Agnifilo told Judge Arun Subramanian.
“We have not demonstrated any sort of bias whatsoever,” lead prosecutor Maurene Ryan Comey responded, calling prosecutors’ selections “very diverse” with “many non-white” jurors.
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Comey ran through neutral reasons as to why they made the strikes the way they did: One juror said he had a lack of candor with past incidents with police; another juror had “meandering and inconsistent answers”; and another juror “tried to walk back” her statement that Combs is likely guilty of domestic violence in her jury questionnaire by later saying that victims can jump on a “bandwagon.”
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The judge denied the defense’s applications about the jury strikes, with Subramanian saying the defense had “failed to show purposeful discrimination.”
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Combs’ team has pointed out what it sees as discriminatory conduct previously. The defense has argued that his transportation to engage in prostitution charge should be dismissed as “no white person has ever been the target of a remotely similar prosecution.”
Among the federal charges against Combs is a violation of the Mann Act, officially known as the White-Slave Traffic Act, which makes it illegal to transport people across state or international lines for the purpose of prostitution. Combs’ lawyers have argued the law has a history of racial bias that rarely results in prosecution.
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His team has also accused prosecutors of leaking damaging material “to humiliate” him.
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On May 9, Subramanian rejected the defense’s request to dismiss the charge.
“Combs doesn’t point to any evidence that racial bias played a role in the government’s actions, that the prosecution team was responsible for any leaks to the press, or that the way Combs’s homes were searched bespeaks a discriminatory purpose,” Subramanian said.
Contributing: Aysha Bagchi
This story has been updated to include additional information.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Diddy’s lawyers claim prosecutors excluded Black jurors in trial
