Jury reaches verdict on 4 of 5 counts in Diddy trial

NEW YORK (AP):

The jury in Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ sex trafficking trial said Tuesday that it has reached a verdict on four of five counts against the hip-hop mogul and was unable to reach a decision on the top charge, racketeering conspiracy.

The judge indicated that he would instruct the jury to continue weighing the charge, echoing the sentiments of prosecutors and Combs’ defence team that just two days into deliberations was too soon to give up on reaching a verdict on all counts.

Judge Arun Subramanian said he received a note at 4:05 p.m. Tuesday indicated that the jury had reached a partial verdict. The note said the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on the racketeering conspiracy charge because there were jurors with “unpersuadable views” on both sides.

Subramanian didn’t appear keen on having jurors announce their partial verdict without first trying to decide the remaining count. He said that juries have a right to deliver a partial verdict, but indicated that’s more of a last resort and that given the short amount of time the panel has been deliberated, he’d rather give them more time and wait to have a full verdict.

Combs’ lawyers surrounded him at the defence table soon after the note was sent to the court. The hip-hop mogul appeared morose as they explained to him what was happening. At one point, lead defence lawyer Marc Agnifilo stepped away from the huddle, returned with a piece of paper and handed it to Combs, who read it solemnly.

Combs’ mother and several of his children returned to the courtroom after the judge announced that the jury had reached a partial verdict.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, were at their table glued to their phones and laptop computers.

Assistant US Attorney Maurene Comey suggested the judge give the jury a modified version of what’s known as an Allen charge – instructions encouraging them to keep deliberating after reaching an impasse.

Defence attorney Agnifilo, however, said the jury doesn’t need help moving expeditiously and he doesn’t want them to get any form of the Allen charge.

“I’m not asking the court to say much because I don’t think this jury needs much,” Agnifilo said, arguing that this situation is different from ones where a jury has gone a while without reaching a verdict on any counts.

Racketeering conspiracy – count 1 on the jury’s verdict sheet – is the most complicated of the charges against Combs because it requires the jury to decide not only whether he ran a “racketeering enterprise,” but also whether he was involved in committing some or all of various types of offences, such as kidnapping and arson.

The charge falls under RICO – the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act – which is best known for being used in organised crime and drug cartel cases.

The panel of eight men and four women has been deliberating since Monday. Earlier Tuesday they asked to review critical testimony from one of the prosecution’s most important witnesses: the hip-hop mogul’s former long-time girlfriend Cassie, and stripper Daniel Phillip’s testimony about her jumping into his lap at a New York City hotel after, as Phillip testified, he suspected Combs had been slapping and slamming her around an adjacent room.

Phillip and Cassie were among the first witnesses who testified when the trial began last month.