Legal professionals representing Sean “Diddy” Combs are requesting that potential jurors in his upcoming federal intercourse trafficking trial be questioned about their private views on intercourse, medicine and violence.
The authorized crew submitted a proposed jury questionnaire to a Manhattan federal choose forward of the trial, which is ready to start on Could 5. In a letter filed late Friday, Combs’ attorneys stated they need to assess jurors’ openness to viewing graphic proof, together with sexually specific movies and pictures of bodily assault. Additionally they search perception into jurors’ opinions on people with a number of sexual companions.
Prosecutors criticized the proposed questionnaire, calling it overly prolonged and laden with questions that they argue needs to be addressed, if in any respect, throughout in-person voir dire led by the choose. The protection’s listing consists of 72 questions, some with subparts which prosecutors stated have been largely irrelevant to figuring out juror eligibility.
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Citing a cautionary instance, prosecutors referenced the 2021 intercourse trafficking trial of Ghislaine Maxwell. After her conviction, a juror later revealed that he didn’t disclose he was a sufferer of sexual abuse, attributing the oversight to being “distracted” and having “skimmed manner too quick” whereas finishing the questionnaire.
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Decide Arun Subramanian has said that questionnaires shall be distributed to a whole lot of potential jurors in late April, with jury choice starting on Could 5 and opening statements anticipated on Could 12.
The 55-year-old music mogul and founding father of Dangerous Boy Data has pleaded not responsible to costs accusing him of participating in sexual abuse over a 20-year span. He has been held with out bail since his arrest in September.
In line with the indictment, Combs allegedly used his energy and affect within the music trade to lure ladies into his orbit beneath the guise of romantic curiosity. He then allegedly coerced, intimidated, or threatened them into participating in business intercourse acts.
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Prosecutors declare that Combs subjected his victims—together with three ladies named within the court docket filings to bodily violence, verbal abuse, and threats of reputational and monetary hurt. A key piece of proof within the trial is anticipated to be surveillance video allegedly displaying Combs assaulting his former girlfriend and protégé, R&B singer Cassie, in a lodge hallway.
Protection attorneys argue the costs unfairly painting consensual acts between adults as legal. Additionally they contend that intense media protection has tainted public notion of Combs, making it important to know potential jurors’ publicity and reactions to that protection.
“The protection believes it is crucial that we permit potential jurors to put in writing candidly concerning the unprecedented and detrimental media consideration that they could have been uncovered to, associated to Mr. Combs,” the attorneys said.
Additionally they requested the court docket to incorporate questions on whether or not potential jurors have seen any latest tv applications resembling The Fall of Diddy, Diddy Do It?, The Downfall of Diddy, or Diddy: The Making of a Dangerous Boy—all of which, they are saying, might bias a juror’s perspective earlier than coming into the courtroom.
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