The Trial of Sean Combs Episode Three | Jury Selection Begins

0:00 Hey everyone, and welcome back to Exposed Scandalous Files of the Elite. I'm your host, Jim Chapman, and the trial of Sean Combs is finally underway and jury selection has begun. Now I'm going to catch you up on what has occurred so far, some surprises already coming out, and even some answers to questions that many of us have had throughout the entire ordeal. So let's get in to it. And on Monday, jury selection did begin. This was Monday, May fifth, and Sean Combs did show up to court wearing a white collared shirt with a black sweater and gray slacks. He was clean shaven and his hair was totally gray, and he had a gray fou man chew or goatee, which is a good indication of what prison will do to you, even when you're in there for just a short period of time, as he has been.

1:08 Now pauln entering the courtroom, he hugged and he shook hands with his attorneys, and at that point the prospective jurors entered the courtroom and they were asked questions meant to drawn out any potential biases or conflicts that they may have for this case, including questions about their experiences with sexual harassment, domestic violence, their opinions on illegal drugs, and their opinions on sex workers. They even asked the potential jury their views on law enforcement and hip hop artists. Now, as a quick reminder, the trial almost did not happen.

1:49 Sean Combes was offered a plea deal, as I told you in a past episode in the eleventh Hour, which that's not rare. Typically, just prior to these trials starting the prosecution in the defense, they'll play a little bit of cat and mouse with each other, and in this case, especially with the expense involved in trying this case, considering the magnitude, I figured at some point late in the game a plea deal would be offered to Seawan Combs, which indeed it was. However, surprisingly to me, this plea deal was turned down. Now the details of that plea deal have not been released. That matters. I mean, there's a big difference between saying, all right, we'll offer you twelve years if you plead guilty and saying we'll offer you three years if you plead guilty. Shawn Combs likely would have took that three year deal. A twelve year deal, not so much. Whatever they offered, it wasn't sweet enough to get Shawn Combs to accept it. And I'm sure he and his lawyers sat down, they discussed the prison cons and they must feel like they've got a pretty good case to turn down a plea deal, even if it was just let's call it a medium range deal, because there's a lot of risk with turning that plea deal down. Keep in mind, he could get up to life in prison now. Honestly, my feeling thus far, if

3:22 he's found guilty, I would be surprised if he gets more than fifteen years. I think that's around what he's going to end up with. Now, that's a long time when you're fifty five years old, especially when you're a multi billionaire and you're used to running the show. A year is a long time in that situation. But fifteen he probably passed out in the courtroom. Now you may be saying to yourself, fifteen years with over one hundred people coming out and saying he raped and drugged them and all those things. Keep in mind those are civil cases, not criminal cases. You don't do jim time for civil cases. You just pay a lot of money. So as I said, the questioning of these potential jurors began and they were asked a wide range of questions, and right off the bat, you're giving a questionnaire. And one of the interesting things on this questionnaire was the jury was being pulled on people whose names may come up during the trial. When I say people, I mean famous people names such as Michael B. Jordan, Mike Myers, Kanye West. As a matter of fact, it was one hundred and ninety different celebrities in all that the jurors were pulled about. And you may have just got a pause when I said Mike Myers.

4:46 Of course, you know, Mike Myers is lost in powers, and it's important to mention just because their names are on the list, it doesn't necessarily mean they did something nefarious. And Mike Myers case, for example, he was photographed going into a Diddy party many years ago. However, as I've told you in the past, those Diddy parties were pre parties. Then there was an after party and most of the people from the pre parties they left and they had that after party, and allegedly that's where the freak offs occurred. So just because you're on the list, doesn't necessarily mean you're a rapist or a pedophile or anything like that.

5:27 So in day one of this trial, we got a good idea of the questions that were going to be asked during the trial. And incidentally, the group of jars they ranged in age on that day one, from thirty all the way up to seventy five. Most were primarily college educated. They all had vast backgrounds in different fields. There were scientists, there were professional movers, business owners, grocery store clerks. It just ran the gamut of people. They were even asked what news outlet that they go to, what's their go to news source, and most responded with either New York Times Singing In or NPR. And there were several dismissals. One dismissal that stuck out came late in the afternoon after a potential juror noted a possible conflict of interest when he stated his wife served as an attorney during what's known as the nineteen ninety one City College Stampede. Now, if you're not familiar with that, it was a celebrity basketball game that Shawn Combs actually organized.

6:39 After the basketball game, there was a kind of a stampede a rush of the crowd out of the building, and nine people were killed when they were trampled essentially at that event. Combs was never criminally charged in that, but he did face a lot of lawsuits as the result of that. And the judge in this situation, he agreed that was a conflict of interest and he dismissed that juror. And there were other dismissals. One juror was dismissed because she could not understand English. I shit you not, And of course the judge agreed and she was dismissed.

7:22 Another juror stated he held ill will towards law enforcement officers because he was searched throughout the years for no good reason, and obviously that guy was dismissed. Now, one woman asked to recuse herself from the jury because she said next month she had a ton of shit going on in her life. She mentioned her son's prim her daughter's birthday. But let this be a lesson to you if you ever get jury duty, that will never get you excused from jury duty. And the judge did deny that request. Now, one man on the potential jury he lobbied to withdraw, saying he doesn't like to see violence on video, and he had no desire to see video of a man beating a woman, but that request was not enough to get him dismissed. Jurors were also asked if on their social media they had ever seen any videos of anything regarding the ditty case. In one jar, he said that he had seen on social media a comedic video is how he described it, featuring Diddy and a bunch of baby oil. I can only imagine what that was. And the judge asked him, well, even though you've seen that video, can you put that aside and still be impartial? And the jar said yes, and so he was not dismissed. Another person expressed some anxiety about

8:53 being on the jury, and she revealed that she had been sexually assaulted as a teen. And at that point when Comb's lawyers they pretty much freaked out because, let's face it, there's a high likelihood that this woman is not going to feel any sympathy for Sean Combe's whatsoever if she feels like he's guilty, right, So they moved to have her dismissed, and the judge actually denied that because he asked her, can you be impartial regardless of your experience, and she said she could. On that note, however, another jar she stated that hearing any victims discuss a lege assault would make her uncomfortable, and that potential juror was dismissed. Comb's lawyers also moved to remove another potential juror because she worked for HBO, who recently produced a series called Quote The Fall of Diddy, but the judge ruled that although she worked at HBO, he asked her, did you have anything to do with this documentary? She said no, she was just employed by HBO and that she could be impartial, and he did not dismiss her.

10:09 And it's worth mentioning that did he He didn't say a whole lot during this day. One as a matter of fact, one full sentence pretty much came out of his mouth the entire day. It was about an hour and a half into the questioning of these potential jurors, and did he raised his hand and asked the judge if he could go to the bathroom, which, of course, he got his bathroom break. Now, before we go any further, can you imagine this is Sean Combe's multi billionaire and he is now in a position in his life where he has to raise his hand and ask the judge if he can go to the bathroom. I'm sure that did not sit well with his ass So the judge, as I said, he agreed to allow, did he that bathroom break? And his response was quote, I'm sorry, judge, I'm very nervous today. Now again, just as a reminder, these federal trials are not televised. Not only are they not televised, you can't even have audio recordings of federal trials, which I totally disagree with. Any trial in the United States of America should be a public trial. In one of this magnitude, obviously, everyone can't travel to New York to attend, and they don't have the space to hold everyone even if everyone could. And it's all of our rights as citizens to view these trials. With the technology at the point that it is today, there is no

11:40 excuse that you can give me as to why they essentially make these things private. Now. I understand the sensitivity of it, but murder trials are televised all the time, sex assault trials televised all the time. Yes, there's victims that may have to testify. Pixelate them out if you have to. If it's a sensitive witness, etc. But just to totally block even an audio version of that trial, to me, is not what we should be all about in the United States. I just don't understand why federal trial is any different than a state trial relative to the ability to televise or record it. But one person likes it, and that is the sketch artist who has really been putting together I'm just gonna be honest, funny looking sketches of Sean Combs. I actually uploaded several of these sketches and I gave you my thoughts on those sketches on the Patreon, so check that out if you want to see it. But that person is going to be working some serious overtime during this one, and it's really fun to just surmise what Dinny was thinking these sketches, and I gave you my opinion that I thought was pretty funny. So they rested for day one and in Day two of the trial was on Tuesday, May six,

13:10 and jurors were repeatedly asked if they had a family member or a friend that had been a victim of sexual assault, sexual harassment, or domestic violence, and whether they or a loved one have been charged or accused of any such crimes. Now, one question that was particularly interesting was have you communicated with others, posted your opinion on social media or online, or liked any social media post about Combs? If so, when and where did you post or state your opinion? And remember, in day one someone actually answered that question and did not get dismissed. Prosecutors also asked potential jurors about their feelings on law enforcement and experiences with government, the same thing they asked in day one when the gentleman got dismissed because he said he couldn't stand law enforcement. And Combe's team also asked potential jurors to describe what kind of music they liked in their opinions on hip hop or rap music. Obviously, if you're on the defense team and someone says I hate rap music, they probably would have a predisposition to Sewan Comb's, and so they want to weave that shit out.

14:27 The defense team also wanted to know if jurors were open minded to alternative sexual lifestyles, which this one didn't surprise me because it's obvious at this point the defense team is going to use what I'm gonna call the swingers defense, they're gonna say, did he and his girlfriends, etc. Were swingers and that's why they were having these freak offs. And keep in mind, whether you agree or not with the swinging lifestyle, it's certainly not illegal. So that's what they're going to push. I think that's going to be a big part of the defense. So by the end of the court proceedings on May six, thirty nine, perspective jurors had faced questions and sixteen of those moved forward in the process. This included ten men and six of women.

15:22 Their ages on day two ranged from thirty eight to get this, eighty seven years old. An eighty seven year old actually showed up for jery duties. Shout out to them. I hope I'm alive at eighty seven, much less competent enough to serve on a jerk now. Their occupations included an American airlines pilot, a social worker, a kitchen designer, a doctor, and of course many more just running that gamut. Three mentioned they liked hip hop music. Some in the group said that they were getting their news from New York Times and NBC. Some other cited YouTube and social media platforms. One potential juror was dismissed after sharing that he was arrested seven years ago for possession of marijuana. Now, the judge asked him, if I asked you to not use marijuana during the trial, would that be hard for you?

16:17 And the man responded with that would be a difficult request, and he even stated the last time he used marijuana was the previous night. So the man was dismissed from the jury. Comes defense actually joked in the courtroom the jurors shouldn't use marijuana during the trial. So the case broke for lunch. Six potential jurors were selected to move forward out of the fifteen at that point that had been questioned. The other nine individuals were dismissed from that pool. Now, several of the individuals on Tuesday did not speak fluent English or they had medical concerns over sitting on the jury were struck for potentially having bias towards Combe. Now, one woman from the jury pool admitted that due to her Catholic upbringing, she feels a lot of guilt and has anxiety taking on a case such as the Combe's case.

17:16 She said to me, you have the life of somebody in your hands. That's very difficult for me, but I think I could do it. But prosecutors didn't like that answer too much, obviously, because she's basically saying I would struggle with putting someone in jail for the rest of their life. And they expressed some doubt over the woman's ability to concentrate during the trial, but they tried to say it was over health issues. She did tell the judge that due to stomach issues, she may have to take multiple bathroom breaks, and after it was all sudden done, the judge struck the woman from the jury pool, and he noted that it was because the court days are shorter and this being a more intense trial, there would likely be fewer breaks. So quickly, let's talk about how long it's going to take to get through this process of jury selection. Assuming all parties can agree on forty five durwors by the end of the May seventh session, the prosecutors and the defense they're going to spend May eighth and ninth preparing for opening statements, and this trial is going to really start with opening statements on May twelfth, and that's pretty quick, as a matter of fact, super quick relative to state trials and federal trials are always quicker than state trials. Incidentally, especially when they're choosing jurys.

18:36 State trials, it can take almost a month for trials of this size just to pick a jury. But as I said, federal trials move quickly, and this trial is going to be no exception. And an interesting situation also took place on May six, that second day of jury selection when a high powered attorney got bought from the courtroom. Mark Gergoes, who think of him as an attorney to the stars. He was sitting in the courtroom and he's not one of Ditty's attorneys, although his daughter is one of Ditty's attorneys. He was actually sitting right behind the defense team, and at one point the defense team leaned back and they start talking to him. And this is in the midst of picking the jury. You can't do that.

19:29 He has to be listed on Ditty's representation in order to offer advice in the courtroom, and once the trial starts with jury selection, you can't start adding attorney. So obviously the prosecution and the defense knew this. I guess the defense was just trying to slide one past the prosecution because this guy's known for picking amazing juries. So the prosecution saw them talking to him and they stopped everything, and they petition to have him removed from the courtroom, which the judge agreed to do, and also the judge barred him from any of the proceedings going forward. He can't even be in the courtroom. Now. Pretty wild stuff.

20:15 So to sum up the first couple of days of jury selection, one thing important to keep in mind. Obviously there's going to be little if anyone who has not heard of Sean Combs or not heard of the accusations, especially from New York where he's from. But the fact that you've heard of him or you've heard of the case doesn't matter. The thing that matters is have you formed an opinion on the case based off of what you heard or seen? Or could you consider the evidence fairly and remain impartial and you don't have your mind made up. If the answer is, you can be impartial regardless of what you've heard, or you can serve on that jury or any other jury. Another thing that's interesting is it's a racketeering case. And when you think of racketeering, typically you think of this enterprise, and it consists of a bunch of people like these big mob cases where there's forty guys going up for trial, but in this case, it's just one person that's Diddy, and that's kind of rare. Now, it's not unheard of, or Kelly is a good example of someone who was a one man racketeering enterprise. But it's interesting nonetheless, and something the defense will probably bring up during the trial. I could see them saying, how could one man pull off all these things you're saying

21:47 he did? Why is no one else on trial? Why is it only showing combes. They're going to try to make it look like he's being railroaded. I guarantee you that's something they're going to come up with during this trial and going forward into the actual trial itself. As I've discussed many times in the past, that video, the cast venture video, is the key piece of evidence, and she's agreed to testify against Diddy in court. According to all the reports I've seen, this is the most damning evidence the prosecution has by far, and it was a big win for them when the judge ruled they could show that video and Cassie and all the interviews that I've seen throughout her career. Not related to this case.

22:40 She comes off as a very credible person. I obviously don't know her personally, but I've seen some interviews. She seems like a very honest individual. And that's important because credibility is what the jury's going to be judging. How is the defense going to overcome that, Well, I'm going to overpine. They're going to say the video is a representation of a couple getting in a fight over allegations of adultery and nothing more. And they're going to try to be little that video, if you will, to the point where the hope is the jury doesn't see it as a big deal when it actually is a huge deal.

23:22 And that video is what got me talking about this case in the detail that I did in the very beginning and infuriated me. Is disgusting. Now, a lot of people have asked about the documentaries that have came out and how will they come into play during the trial, because some people that are potential witnesses may have been on a documentary or a podcast, And that's actually a great question, and it's also kind of the risk you run when you go onto a podcast or you're part of a documentary, because if you say something different in that courtroom than what you said in a documentary. For example, the defense team can then present evidence in that documentary, let's say, of you saying something different, and you can actually get impeached for that right there in court. Plus, it automatically takes credibility away from you in the eyes of the jury. So you have to be very careful and guaranteed anyone who's on that witness list to testify that did a podcast or did a documentary, that defense team's going to memorize every word. They're going to have transcripts of everything they said in that podcast or documentary right there on the defense table, and the first inaccuracy, they're going to bring it up. Another interesting strategy is it relates to the prosecution that we haven't discussed yet,

24:55 is the fact that all of the prosecutors in this case, and there's five them, incidentally, they're all female. Now, these female prosecutors are the best of the best in the entire nation. But that strategy can go both ways. It could be great for the prosecution because this is a case where it doesn't involve males on the criminal side. It's all female victims, and the jury could see this as kind of a sign of solidarity and really go for it, or they can see it as a message the federal government is trying to relay something bigger, if you will, then showing combs, and it actually could turn on them in that situation. They could say, this is one man on trial and you're trying to turn this into like a me too movement type thing. So it'll be interesting to see how this plays out in the eyes of the jury. But let me tell you, these are some smart ladies right here on that prosecution team.

26:00 They're going to be impressive. Another thing to me that is really shocking is the fact that, according to what the jury is being told at this point, there are no plans to sequester the jury. Now, personally, I think this is a big mistake. If you remember with the oj Simpson trial, those jurors were sequestered for nine months. Now, no doubt this is not going to be that long. I look for this trial to be a month, maybe a month and a half at the most. But how the hell can you not sequester a jury in a trial of this magnitude with this much media hype surrounding it.

26:50 Remember this isn't the nineteen nineties like it was when the OJ Simpson case came out and that jury was sequestered. These days, you have social media everywhere. There's no way they're going to be able to go home every night and stay away from anything to do with this trial. You just can't trust people to do that. As a matter of fact, in that questionnaire sent out to potential jurors, it's specifically said, quote, there are no plans to sequester the jury, which means you will go home every day after court unquote. Now can this change? Yes, absolutely, they can decide to sequester that jury in the eleventh hour, and actually I'll be shocked if they don't. But as of now, no plans to do that. So what issue does that create. Well, to me, it creates a major play for an appeal where Sean Combs would actually have a legitimate argument. He could just say the jury was tainted because they went home every night, and he could produce proof of all this massive media coverage, and in all likelihood he would get a new trial based off of that. In my opinion, it's just not worth the resk.

28:14 It seems like that one blew my mind, I gotta admit, but there you have it. That's your update of the Diddy Trial, y'all. It's about to get wild. I'm gonna be there every step of the way. Don't forget to check out the Patreon commercial, free early releases, bonus content, even quarterly gifts, Patreon dot com, slash exposed podcast files, and if you're enjoying what I'm bringing you on this case, follow me on whatever app you listen to this podcast on because I'm not going to have specific days and times that I drop these ditty trial updates. They just don't occur at the same times every day. Some days I may drop back to back one day and then the next. It's easy if you just follow me totally free.

29:11 You can follow on whatever platform you listen on and it'll alert you when I drop a new episode. So consider doing that. And until next time for exposed scandalous files of the Elite, I'm your host, Jim Chapman. Much love,