The judge presiding over the high-profile federal sex-trafficking and racketeering trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs dismissed a juror on Monday over conflicting statements about his residency.
The juror, identified as Juror 6, reportedly claimed during jury selection that he lived in the Bronx, but last week, prosecutors said that he told a court staff member that he had been living in New Jersey, making him ineligible for a Manhattan federal jury.
“Taking these all together, the record raised serious concerns as to the juror’s candor and whether he shaded answers to get on and stay on the jury,” Judge Arun Subramanian said in court on Monday.
The judge’s decision came after the prosecutors alerted the court to the juror’s contradictory statements last week. The judge said on Friday that he found “several inconsistencies” in the juror’s statements.
Combs’s legal team opposed the juror’s removal, arguing that Combs would be “severely prejudiced” if Juror 6, who is a Black man, were removed. Juror 6 was one of two Black men on the jury, according to Combs’s lawyers.
The alternate juror who will replace him is a white man from Westchester, New York.
Entering its sixth week, the trial continued on Monday with prosecutors showing jurors, for the first time, video excerpts of the sex sessions at the center of the case against the 55-year-old music mogul – referred to as “freak-offs”. Previously, jurors had only been shown still images pulled from the footage.
A paralegal from the US attorney’s office also walked jurors through evidence, including text messages and call logs, and the prosecution presented text messages to the jury, as well as travel records linked to a male escort they say was hired to participate in the sex sessions with Combs and his former girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, who testified earlier in the trial.
Combs was arrested in September and is facing charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors are expected to rest their case later this week, after which the defense will begin calling witnesses.
The trial is expected to continue for a few more weeks. If convicted, Combs faces up to life in prison.
