Sean Combs will enter a Manhattan federal courtroom Monday as jury selection begins in his criminal trial.
The five count indictment overlaps with some of the dozens of accusations and lawsuits alleging Combs raped, abused, drugged and violently assaulted both men and women, as well as children as young as 10 years old, over the course of decades. Those civil lawsuits have not been litigated yet.
“There very well may be spillover, and a lot of it, but there'll be separate proceedings,” explained New York Criminal Defense attorney Jeremy Saland. “What you say in one is going to be admissible in another, and that story is going to be out.”
The Combs indictment was unsealed September 17th of last year on federal charges of racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. It’s being heard in a federal court rather than a state court at least in part because some of the allegations take place across state lines.
The original 14-page indictment paints a dramatic picture of Combs "striking, punching, dragging, throwing objects at, and kicking" women. Prosecutors allege he drugged women, kept explicit videos of them, and threatened them. The government says he even monitored victims' medical records, controlled what they wore and where they lived. They allege his "abuse was, at times, verbal, emotional, physical, and sexual," including manipulating women to participate in highly orchestrated sex performances with male sex workers.
Prosecutors have amended the case multiple times, first in January without adding new charges but included new details alleging he transported two more female victims across state and international lines and that he dangled someone over an apartment balcony.
Then on March 6th, prosecutors filed a second superseding indictment without new charges to include allegations of forced labor. Prosecutors say Combs forced his employees to work long hours and threatened to punish those who didn't help him.
“You're allowing potentially for new people in a new time frame, so that's bringing in more evidence that could be used, and it what it'll do for the prosecution, potentially, is bolster or lift up that the charges,” Saland explained.
Finally, prosecutors added charges in early April alleging more sex trafficking and transportation across state lines to engage in prostitution.
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At an April pre-trial hearing, Combs’ lead attorney Marc Agnifilo suggested he may argue Combs was engaged in a “swinger” sexual siutation with the women. Agnifilo suggested the “common” sexual behavior was consenual.
The severity of these allegations will undoubtedly make jury selection complex.
"One of the issues they're going to deal with is not just his celebrity and not just everything that's surrounding it, but here, the other component is going to be that sexual abuse and people's personal experiences with that, that's something that is going to be very important,” said Saland.
Judge Arun Subramanian said Thursday counsel will be working privately in some capacity with potential jurors because of the highly personal nature of this case. Potential jurors will be questioned both privately about whether they have a specific connection to sexual abuse and publicly as selection typically goes.
While the witness list is still not public, the now infamous hotel footage with Cassie Ventura may be used in the trial, and Ventura could be called to the stand. here are also a handful of celebrities who could be called as well.
Combs rejected a plea deal in the same hearing and has pled not guilty to all five criminal charges. He has been denied bail on multiple occasions.
