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    Alternate Juror at the Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Trial: ‘I Understand’ the Verdict

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    A Manhattan man who did not deliberate but heard all 28 days of testimony said in an interview that he was not persuaded by the prosecution’s case.An alternate juror in Sean Combs’s federal trial said in an interview that he agreed with the jury’s verdict, which found the music mogul not guilty of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy. Combs was convicted of two counts of a lesser charge, transportation to engage in prostitution, and remains detained while he awaits sentencing.“I understand how my fellow jurors came to that conclusion,” the alternate, a Manhattan man named George, said in an interview on Thursday with The New York Times.As an alternate, George was not present for the deliberations by the jury of eight men and four women who reached the verdict, though he was seated in the jury box for the entirety of the case, and said he took some 350 pages of notes.He described the panel as a collegial group that ate lunches together and followed the judge’s rules not to discuss the case until they had been told to decide on a verdict.The jury reached its verdict on Wednesday morning after about 13 and a half hours of deliberations.The jurors in the case were granted anonymity by the judge to protect their privacy in a high-profile trial. The Times is publishing only George’s first name because of his concern that he might face harassment. No other jurors have spoken publicly about the case.To corroborate George’s identity, The Times examined public records and his social media accounts, and questioned him about his answers to the judge during the public jury-selection process. He also shared an image of the juror badge given to him by the court.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’s Winning Defense: He’s Abusive, but He’s Not a Racketeer

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      In defusing much of the government’s case, lawyers for the music mogul did not dispute that he did bad things. They disputed that they matched the crimes he was charged with.Over 28 days of testimony, federal prosecutors called witnesses who gave compelling accounts of harrowing violence, acts of intimidation and voyeuristic sex in hotel rooms with oceans of baby oil. Sean Combs, they said, was the ringleader.Investigators detailed for the jury raids at Mr. Combs’s mansions in Miami Beach, Fla., and Los Angeles, where they carted away several AR-15-style guns and illicit narcotics. People who worked for Mr. Combs, the music mogul known as Puffy Daddy or Diddy, testified that they had procured drugs for him or had witnessed his physical abuse of a former girlfriend.In the face of this evidence, the defense presented a case that lasted less than half an hour. Mr. Combs declined to testify, and no other witnesses were called. The rapid turnaround was startling after six weeks of trial.But in retrospect, the defense’s compact case was a sign that Mr. Combs’s lawyers felt confident the government had not done enough to convince a federal jury that Mr. Combs was, as charged, the boss of a criminal enterprise.That confidence had appeared to waver on Tuesday afternoon, when eight of Mr. Combs’s lawyers somberly huddled near their client after jurors said they had reached a verdict on all but the racketeering charge. But those same lawyers turned jubilant on Wednesday after the jury declared Mr. Combs not guilty of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy — the two most severe charges against him.While Mr. Combs’s convictions on two lesser counts of transportation to engage in prostitution could result in his spending years in prison, sex-trafficking or racketeering convictions would have carried potential life sentences.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      What’s Next in the Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Trial?

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      The music mogul remains in custody after he was convicted on two counts of transporting prostitutes. A judge will determine his prison sentence at an unspecified date.The federal trial of Sean Combs ended on Wednesday with the music mogul acquitted of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking, the most serious charges he had faced, but convicted on two counts of transporting prostitutes to participate in drug-fueled sex marathons.Though Mr. Combs and his lawyers were jubilant after the acquittals on the more severe charges, he still awaits sentencing at a date that is not yet scheduled.Here is what is next for Mr. Combs:Mr. Combs will remain in a Brooklyn jail.Before 11 a.m. on Wednesday morning, a jubilant Mr. Combs and his family were clapping and cheering his legal team after what they considered a victory in court. But a question remained: Would Judge Arun Subramanian grant him bail to go free as he waited for his sentencing hearing?The defense proposed a $1 million bond, co-signed by Mr. Combs, his mother, his sister and Sarah Chapman, the mother of his oldest daughter, Chance. His passport would be surrendered, and his travel would be restricted to the judicial districts around New York, Los Angeles and Miami. He would also agree to drug testing.“Today, the jury unambiguously rejected the government’s allegations that Mr. Combs ran a yearslong criminal enterprise or engaged in sex trafficking — the core of the government’s case,” the defense wrote.In a letter filed by the government, prosecutors argued that Mr. Combs should remain in detention in part because during the trial “the defendant embraced the fact that he was a habitual drug user who regularly engaged in domestic abuse.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Cassie’s Lawyer and Women’s Groups React to Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Verdict

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      Douglas Wigdor, a lawyer for Ms. Ventura, said, “He’s finally been held responsible for two federal crimes, something that he’s never faced in his life.”A lawyer for Casandra Ventura, the star witness in the federal trial against Sean Combs, said he was “pleased” that Mr. Combs had been “held accountable for something.”The jury in the case handed down a mixed verdict on Wednesday, finding Mr. Combs not guilty of federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges, the most serious charges against him, both of which carry a possible life sentence. But it convicted him of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution — violations of the Mann Act — after an eight-week trial. Mr. Combs, who will be sentenced at a later date, and his lawyers were elated in court when the verdict was read.Outside the courthouse, Douglas Wigdor, a lawyer for Ms. Ventura, said: “He’s finally been held responsible for two federal crimes, something that he’s never faced in his life.”Women’s advocacy groups and organizations that fight sexual violence praised the women who came forward to testify in the Sean Combs trial but expressed disappointment in the verdict.Advocacy groups had been closely following the deliberations, and they swiftly reacted to the verdict. Most expressed disappointment while praising the two former girlfriends of Mr. Combs’s — Ms. Ventura and a woman known in court as “Jane” — who came forward to tell their stories in often excruciating and lurid detail. Both testified that Mr. Combs had used violence and financial leverage to coerce them into having sex with male escorts.Arisha Hatch, the interim executive director of the women’s advocacy group UltraViolet, condemned the verdict as “a stain on a criminal justice system that for decades has failed to hold accountable abusers like Diddy.” She called it “an indictment of a culture in which not believing women and victims of sexual assault remains endemic.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      After Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Verdict, the Testimony of Cassie and ‘Jane’ Lingers

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      Two of Mr. Combs’s former girlfriends gave days of harrowing testimony of abuse, but jurors weren’t convinced those experiences with escorts were sex trafficking.Over a combined 10 days, two of Sean Combs’s girlfriends told a jury about some of the most harrowing moments of their lives.The women, Casandra Ventura and a woman known in court by the pseudonym “Jane,” testified about their affection for Mr. Combs, but also the myriad ways they said he abused them physically, emotionally and sexually. There was what they called drug-dazed sex with strangers in hotel rooms. Violent arguments. Physical abuse. And not-so-subtle reminders about who paid the rent.Their testimony, however, was ultimately not persuasive to the jurors who were asked to consider whether Mr. Combs had coerced Ms. Ventura or Jane into the extended sex sessions with male escorts that he called “freak-offs.”When Mr. Combs and his lawyers learned on Wednesday that he was not criminally responsible for sex trafficking or racketeering conspiracy, they were exuberant. There were gasps and tears filled with joy and relief.Ms. Ventura’s and Jane’s reactions to the same verdict happened out of the public eye.But some leaders of women’s advocacy groups and organizations that fight sexual violence called it a rollback on the progress that has been made in holding men accountable when they take advantage of women.Arisha Hatch, the interim executive director of the women’s advocacy group UltraViolet, condemned the verdict as “a stain on a criminal justice system that for decades has failed to hold accountable abusers” and called it “an indictment of a culture in which not believing women and victims of sexual assault remains endemic.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      What Could Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’s Sentence Look Like?

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      Judge Arun Subramanian can consider federal guidelines and aspects of the music mogul’s character and history when determining Mr. Combs’s sentence.Though Sean Combs was acquitted on Wednesday of the most serious charges in his federal trial, he still faces the possibility of prison time because the jury found him guilty of two counts of transporting people to engage in prostitution.Sentencing experts say it is difficult to predict how severe his punishment will be, as the judge in the case must go through complicated calculus to determine a just outcome.A sentencing date has not yet been set. Each of the two transportation for prostitution convictions carries up to 10 years in prison, creating a maximum of 20 years if those sentences are served consecutively. But there are several reasons to think Mr. Combs’s sentence could be considerably shorter than that, experts said.“Judges almost never come close to” the maximum sentences, said Daniel Richman, a professor at Columbia Law School and a former federal prosecutor in the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York.The judge in the trial, Arun Subramanian, will likely start by considering federal sentencing guidelines, rubrics which are used to create a penalty range based on various factors, including the nature of the offense, specifics of the case and personal characteristics of the defendant, like criminal history.Nationally, judges stuck to the sentencing guidelines in 67 percent of cases in the fiscal year 2024. But judges in the Southern District of New York imposed sentences within the guidelines just 34.5 percent of the time, almost always imposing shorter sentences than the guidelines suggested.Mr. Richman said the judge has wide latitude to consider what a reasonable sentence would be.“When making that decision he can consider the guidelines, especially since he just calculated them, but he can consider many other things and need not follow the guidelines,” he said.Douglas Berman, a sentencing expert at Ohio State University, said that even if judges do not stick to sentencing guidelines, they are often still used as a benchmark. Judges generally don’t want to stray too far from established norms, he said.Mr. Berman said every aspect of the defendant’s character and history — his charity work, his professional success, his threat to others, any bad behavior — can be taken into account.“There really are no limits to what the judge can consider,” he said.That also extends to evidence presented at trial regarding the counts on which Mr. Combs was acquitted, if the judge deems it relevant to the sentencing. Judges must weigh, among other things, whether the defendant is likely to commit a crime again.In the courtroom on Wednesday, Mr. Combs appeared to treat the verdict as a victory, pumping his fist in celebration and thanking jurors. Mr. Berman said that “how much of a win will really turn on how aggressive prosecutors are in their sentencing recommendations,” which he said can often influence judges. More

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      Jury in Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Trial Reaches Verdict on All Counts but Racketeering Conspiracy

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      The jury will keep deliberating on a racketeering conspiracy charge in the morning after saying there were “unpersuadable opinions on both sides.”A jury in Manhattan reached a partial verdict on Tuesday in the federal case against the music mogul Sean Combs, but it did not announce its decision because it was deadlocked on a final charge of racketeering conspiracy. The jury left for the night and will return to continue deliberating on Wednesday morning.The jury, comprising eight men and four women, said there were members “with unpersuadable opinions on both sides” on the racketeering count. After deliberating for more than 12 hours, they reached a verdict on the four other counts in the case, two each of sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.Mr. Combs has pleaded not guilty to all charges, and his lawyers have denied that any of his sexual activities with the women in the trial were nonconsensual.After the jurors alerted the court to the partial verdict at about 4:05 p.m. on Tuesday, Judge Arun Subramanian, who is presiding over the case, brought them into the courtroom and encouraged them to continue their discussions.“I ask at this time that you keep deliberating,” Judge Subramanian said.He reread the panel an excerpt from the jury instructions that said “no juror should surrender his or her conscientious beliefs for the purpose of returning a unanimous verdict.”At that point, the jury decided to conclude its deliberations for the day and return on Wednesday at 9 a.m.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Inside the Jury Room at the Weinstein Trial, Rancor and Recrimination

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      As the panelists deliberated over whether the former Hollywood mogul should be convicted of sex crimes for a second time in Manhattan, accusations began to fly.Inside the jury room at the second New York sex crime trial of Harvey Weinstein, things were getting tense.The 12 jurors had already acquitted the former Hollywood mogul on one felony sex crime charge, and they had begun to deliberate on a second when the discussions suddenly turned pointed, and personal.One juror, who had been calm and had even prayed with the others, abruptly began accusing another of having been “bought out” by Mr. Weinstein or his lawyers.The moment, which occurred on the second day of deliberations in a case that was brought by the Manhattan district attorney’s office after its earlier sex crime conviction against Mr. Weinstein was overturned, foreshadowed the rancor and dysfunction that would ultimately consume the panel.Although it ultimately voted to convict him of the second felony sex crime, it reached no decision on the third charge in the case, deadlocking on Thursday over whether Mr. Weinstein raped an aspiring actress in a hotel room in 2013.This account of what occurred in the jury room is based on interviews with several jurors, particularly one panelist who came forward twice to voice concerns to the judge about the behavior of his fellow jurors.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      After a Wild Day in Court, Weinstein Jurors Will Resume Deliberations

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      On Wednesday, the jury convicted Harvey Weinstein of one felony sex crime. The judge sent jurors home to cool off after their discussions devolved into threats and yelling.After a wild day in court in which jurors in Manhattan convicted Harvey Weinstein of a felony sex crime but were then sent home to cool off, they will return to court on Thursday to continue their deliberations.On Wednesday, the panel of seven women and five men announced a partial verdict, convicting Mr. Weinstein on a single count of criminal sexual act and acquitting him of another count of the same charge. They have so far been unable to reach a consensus on a charge of third-degree rape.With the verdict, Mr. Weinstein, once a powerful Hollywood mogul, was convicted a second time on sex crime charges in New York.The jurors were ordered by the judge overseeing the trial, Curtis Farber of New York City Criminal Court, to continue deliberating on the final charge, which centers on accusations that Mr. Weinstein attacked Jessica Mann, an aspiring actress, in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013.They were sent home early on Wednesday after their deliberations had devolved into threats and yelling, according to the jury foreman, who complained to the judge that the other jurors were unduly pressuring him.The dramatic developments this week are another chapter in the yearslong saga of Mr. Weinstein’s criminal trials and civil lawsuits after investigations by The New York Times and The New Yorker found that Mr. Weinstein had mistreated women and that his company had covered it up.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More