Photo Credit: Tingey Law
Defense attorney Marc Agnifilo told US District Judge Arun Subramanian during a hearing that he plans to show there was mutual violence between Sean “Diddy” Combs and Casandra “Cassie” Ventura. Ventura is expected to testify against Combs as a star witness for the prosecution.
Judge Subramanian seemed reluctant to allow the defense to introduce evidence of alleged violence on Ventura’s part, but said he would rule on the issue on Monday. A jury of 12 New Yorkers is also set to be finalized on Monday ahead of opening statements.
Initially, jury selection was due to wrap on Friday, but Judge Subramanian pushed it back to Monday over concerns that jurors might drop out over the weekend if the panel was finalized as originally planned. On Monday morning, a pool of 45 prospective jurors will be narrowed down to 12, with six alternates. This phase is expected to last less than an hour, with opening statements set to follow.
The 55-year-old Combs has pleaded not guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of sex trafficking, and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, all of which are felonies. If he is convicted, he could face life in prison. He has been held without bail in a federal facility in Brooklyn since his arrest in September.
As the trial gears up, Judge Subramanian admonished lawyer Mark Geragos—notably not on Combs’ defense team—for referring to the prosecutors in the case as a “six-pack of white women” in comments on a podcast last week. In a May 2 episode of “Two Angry Men,” a podcast he co-hosts with TMZ founder Harvey Levin, Geragos remarked that the racial and gender composition of the prosecution team was “interesting.”
While Geragos is not representing Combs in the trial, his daughter, Teny Geragos, is one of Combs’ defense attorneys. He asserted he was not trying to interfere with the case, but that defendants had a right to respond to “negative pre-trial publicity.”
“When you’ve got a Black man who’s being prosecuted, and the client feels like he’s being targeted, it’s […] an observation,” said Geragos.
Prosecutor Christy Slavik remarked that with millions of subscribers to Geragos’ podcast, “the danger of [his] statements infecting the jury pool, I think, is very serious.”
Subramanian concluded that he will be monitoring comments made on the podcast as the trial continues.
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