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The jury in Sean "Diddy" Combs' federal racketeering and sex trafficking trial has reached a partial verdict.
According to a report NBC News published on Tuesday, July 1, the jury only reached a verdict on four of the five counts. In a note sent to U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, the 12 jurors have not reached a unanimous verdict on the racketeering conspiracy charge because there are jurors with “unpersuadable views” on both sides. The jury has spent the past two days deliberating following the 6-week trial. Combs' attorney Marc Agnifilo told the judge that the jury should continue deliberating.
The prosecution agreed with the defense and said the government aims to put together an Allen charge, which will urge the jury to keep deliberating to avoid a hung jury. The jury began deliberating Monday morning following last week's closing arguments. Since they began, the jurors have sent six notes to Judge Subramanian. The first note came in within the first two hours of deliberations and expressed their concerns about Juror No. 3, who they believe "does not follow" the judge's instructions. The jury also sent a note asking for transcripts of testimony given by Casandra "Cassie" Ventura and Daniel Phillip, a sex worker who was hired for the former couple's "freak offs."
Jurors sent another note to the judge yesterday right before court closed for the day. In it, they asked if an individual is considered a distributor if they gave substances to someone who asked for the drugs. Prosecutors referred them to page 37 of the jury charge documents, which stated that distributing "simply means to deliver, to pass over, or to hand over something to another person." Combs' isn't facing any drug charges, however, their question pertained to possession with intent to distribute, which would qualify as a predicate crime for his racketeering charge.
As of this report, the jury has not made a decision on the racketeering charge.