Diddy: Jury Selection Gets Underway In Long-Awaited Trial; Music Mogul Faces Life In …
More than seven months months after he was arrested on rape and sex trafficking charges, Sean “Diddy” Combs’ trial is finally getting underway.
Jury selection began this morning at Manhattan’s Daniel P. Moynihan courthouse.
As we reported last week, Diddy has rejected a plea deal and will take his chances at trial. If convicted on all charges, he faces life in prison.
Diddy’s trial is expected to last at least two months
The trial is scheduled to last eight to ten weeks, though there’s a chance it could drag on even longer.
In their indictment, prosecutors allege that Combs “abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct.”
Diddy’s defense team counters that the rapper was merely a “swinger” and that all of the sexual activity he engaged in was consensual.
“There’s a lifestyle, call it swingers or whatever you will, that he thought was appropriate because it was common,” Combs’ lawyer Marc Agnifilo said in a pre-trial hearing on April 25 (via the New York Post).
Jury selection promises to be particularly challenging due to all the media coverage surrounding the case.
The fact that the trial will be held in Diddy’s hometown of New York City may complicate matters even further.
As TMZ points out, the average observer already believes Combs is guilty, so the defense will have a difficult time finding unbiased jurors.
The lengthy court battle ahead
This might look like an open-and-shut case from an outsider’s perspective, but the defense insists that Combs has been unfairly targeted.
In contentious pre-trial hearings, lawyers for Diddy have lashed out at opposing counsel and argued against the admission of key pieces of evidence.
The defense fought to have the video of Diddy assaulting then-girlfriend Cassie ruled inadmissible.
The mogul is not on trial for the violence documented in that footage, but the judge ruled that the tape is relevant as evidence of Combs’ character.
As for Diddy himself, the months in jail have reportedly taken quite a toll on the once-stylish hip hop icon.
Courtroom onlookers have described Diddy as “bloated,” “grey-haired,” and looking much older than he did at the time of his arrest.
But the mogul will be permitted to wear a suit during his trial, as opposed to the prison uniform he sported in pre-trial hearings.
We will have further updates on this developing story as new information becomes available.
Diddy: Jury Selection Gets Underway In Long-Awaited Trial; Music Mogul Faces Life In … was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.
