Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial judge dismisses juror after five weeks of evidence – over ‘concerns about his candour’
A juror has been dismissed from the Sean “Diddy” Combs sex-trafficking trial after hearing five weeks of evidence.
Judge Arun Subramanian said he had “concerns” about the jury member’s “candour” and made the decision after it emerged the man – Juror 6 – had given inconsistent answers about where he lives.
This could indicate he potentially had an agenda, that he wanted to be on the panel hearing the Combs trial for a purpose, the judge said, and there was nothing the juror could say that would “put the genie back in the bottle”.
Diddy trial: Day 24 – as it happened
Combs hugged one of his lawyers as he arrived in the courtroom. Pic: Reuters/ Jane Rosenberg
Questions over whether the juror, a black male, resided in New York or across the Hudson River in the state of New Jersey first arose at the end of last week – but defence lawyers argued dismissing him would disrupt the diversity of the jury.
However, the judge rejected this argument ahead of the start of Monday’s court session, excusing the juror and replacing him with one of the alternates, a white male.
A review of the juror’s answers to questions about his residency during jury selection, along with his subsequent responses to similar questions, revealed “clear inconsistencies”, the judge said.
“Taking these all together, the record raised serious concerns as to the juror’s candour and whether he shaded answers to get on and stay on the jury,” Judge Subramanian said.
Leaving the juror on the panel could threaten the integrity of the judicial process, he added.
“The court should not, indeed cannot, let race factor into the decision of what happens. Here, the answer is clear. Juror number six is excused,” Judge Subramanian said.
Special agent and paralegal testify
Following the juror’s dismissal, the sixth week of the trial began – with testimony from a paralegal specialist and a special agent, who both gave evidence as summary witnesses.
This means they were not involved in the criminal investigation into Combs, but were tasked with reviewing some evidence, including charts, phone records and data. In court, the aim is to provide context to the testimony heard so far and how it relates to the charges against the hip-hop mogul.
During paralegal specialist Ananya Sankar’s testimony, the court heard about texts appearing to reference “freak offs” – sexual encounters with male escorts which former girlfriends Cassie Ventura and “Jane”, two of three alleged victims to give evidence during the trial, both say Combs forced them into.
Cassie was in an on-off relationship with Combs from 2007 to 2018, while Jane – a pseudonym – dated him on and off from the beginning of 2021 to his arrest in September 2024.
Cassie Ventura gave evidence against Combs during the first week of the trial in May. Pic: Reuters/ Jane Rosenberg
Chicken soup and $4,000 cash
In messages from March 2016, Combs’s then chief of staff Kristina Khorram appeared to ask an assistant to set a hotel room up, with items requested including Gatorade, water and chicken noodle soup. “He wants you to go right away now please,” a message said.
In another text, Khorram asked workers to fetch $4,000 in cash and to ensure a male escort was given access to the hotel room, the court heard.
The court also heard about messages sent around the time of the bombshell civil lawsuit filed against Combs by Cassie in November 2023 – which was settled within 24 hours for a then undisclosed sum, revealed to be $20m during the trial.
By this time, Combs was seeing Jane. According to an audio file of a conversation, Jane told Combs after finding out about Cassie’s lawsuit: “I don’t know what I’m feeling… this is so word for word, it is crazy and it just feels sick to my stomach.”
On 28 November 2023, about two weeks later, Jane told Combs she felt he exploited her with their “dark and humiliating lifestyle”.
The following month, the court heard Jane said in a message to Khorram: “He said he would expose me and send videos to my baby daddy… I am traumatised by my time with him.”
Diddy at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2023. Pic: Evan Agostini/ Invision/ AP
Jane said she would not normally involve Khorram in such matters, but told her she needed help as Combs was having one of his “evil-ass psychotic bipolar” episodes.
Jane told Khorram that she was heavily drugged in the tapes.
Although it was not clear exactly what she was referencing, a message sent to Combs by Khorram around the time of the lawsuit seemed to show some friction between the pair.
“If you cannot be honest with me this doesn’t work,” she told him, according to the messages. Combs “keeping things” to himself put them in the “situation we are all in right now”, she added.
Towards the end of the court day, videos entered into evidence under seal were played by the prosecution. This means the jury and lawyers could see and hear what was happening, but members of the public in court could not.
Read more:
Everything you need to know about the trial
The rise and fall of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs
What we learned from Cassie’s testimony
Prosecutors have said they expect to conclude their case later this week. After this, Combs’s defence team will begin theirs.
Last week, Kanye West turned up at the court in Manhattan, New York, to support the rapper, spending about 40 minutes in the building watching proceedings on a monitor in an overflow room.
Combs’s mother, Janice Combs, and several of his children have also consistently shown up throughout the hearing.
Diddy denies charges of sex-trafficking, transportation to engage in prostitution and racketeering conspiracy.
The trial continues.
US
Insults, expletives and squeaky ducks – the most abusive Ryder Cup in almost a century of matches
The Europeans broke the Ryder Cup duck. Never expecting to shake off the bizarre distraction of a squeaky duck toy.
Never imagining the Americans would make them fight so hard on the final day in New York.
What had been shaping up to be a record-breaking win instead turned into a desperate scrap to avoid throwing it all away.
So ultimately, everything the American crowd did to antagonise the visitors backfired.
A raucous crowd is the Ryder Cup‘s appeal. Why no away team has won the biennial since 2012 – until now.
But the bitterness and toxicity were off the scale at Bethpage Black. Europe overcame it to win the 45th edition of golf’s most prestigious team prize.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Team Europe win Ryder Cup
After the putt that retained the trophy and a roar of relief, Ireland’s Shane Lowry said: “I’ve been so lucky to experience amazing things in this game.
“That was the hardest couple of hours of my life.”
It was tighter, tenser, and far more stressful than anyone imagined after Europe began Sunday’s singles session with a 12-5 lead.
Humiliation was avoided for the Americans after Donald Trump became their first sitting president to attend the Ryder Cup on Friday.
POTUS saw Europe start to build a commanding lead.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
President Trump arrives at Ryder Cup
Maybe that’s why the home crowd was so riled and rattled by Saturday. It wasn’t just rowdy. This became the most abusive Ryder Cup in almost a century of matches.
There is firing up the home crowd and what unfolded at the first tee – a course announcer hurling a vulgarity at Rory McIlroy.
The tone was set for spectators goading the Northern Irishman with abuse about his private life and performances.
“Guys, shut up,” he eventually told hecklers.
Europe celebrating. Pic: AP
It was an understatement when he later described conditions as “really challenging”.
So by the time Day 3 began, and the foul-mouthed announcer had apologised and stepped down, maybe it was no coincidence Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” was the morning soundtrack in the grandstand.
But there was a new tactic to disturb and antagonise – the ducks given out with cherry fairway fizz drinks.
Repeatedly squeaked as Europeans took their shots, McIlroy finally complained.
The insults had crossed the line.
Pic: AP Photo/Matt Slocum
Read more from Sky News:
Team Europe win Ryder Cup in nail-biting finale
More victims expected following Mormon church shooting and fire
But eventually, as the hosts fought back, reeling off wins in the singles to put more red on the board, Europe made it over the line, scraping over the line with a salvage job.
“It’s been one of the hardest days I’ve ever experienced on a golf course,” said Tyrrell Hatton after drawing the penultimate match to secure the win.
“Those last five, six, seven holes were horrible.”
Instead of a record victory margin, 15-13 was the tightest since Europe won by a point at Medinah, Illinois, in 2012.
The weekend produced more drama, more discord, and disturbances in New York than imagined by Luke Donald, the first captain since fellow Englishman Tony Jacklin to win back-to-back editions since the 1980s.
“It’s got to be the most stressful 12 hours of my life,” he said. “We knew they’d be tough, we didn’t think they’d be this tough.”
A person has been killed and several others injured after a mass shooting and fire at a Mormon church in Michigan, police have said.
Authorities said at a news conference that the suspect was shot dead by police officers, and that nine others were injured.
Two of those were said to be in critical condition, Grand Blanc Township Chief William Renye told reporters.
Flames and smoke rising from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc. Pic: Julie J, @Malkowski6April / AP
He added that the suspect was a 40-year-old man from Burton, who drove his vehicle into the church and began firing rounds at the hundreds of people attending Sunday service.
The suspect used an assault rifle and deliberately started the blaze, Chief Renye said, before adding that officers believe they will find additional victims in the fire.
Pics: AP
The incident took place at around 11am local time at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc, about 50 miles north of Detroit.
In a statement on Sunday morning, Grand Blanc Township Police Department added that the church was “actively on fire” and urged the public to avoid the area.
Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer said in a statement that “my heart is breaking for the Grand Blanc community” after the shooting.
She added: “Violence anywhere, especially in a place of worship, is unacceptable. I am grateful to the first responders who took action quickly.”
Sheriff: ‘Entire church is on fire’
Genesee County sheriff Christopher Swanson said at around 12.20pm (5.20pm in the UK) that the “entire church is on fire”, and confirmed that people who were at the church have been evacuated.
Around 20 minutes later, the police department said the fire had been contained.
The incident took place at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc
US attorney general Pam Bondi also confirmed the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are responding to the incident.
US President Donald Trump said on Truth Social that “the suspect is dead, but there is still a lot to learn”, before saying the shooting “appears to be yet another targeted attack on Christians in the United States of America”.
He added: “PRAY for the victims, and their families. THIS EPIDEMIC OF VIOLENCE IN OUR COUNTRY MUST END, IMMEDIATELY!”
In the wake of the shooting and fire, the New York Police Department said it would deploy officers to religious institutions across the city “out of an abundance of caution”.
The incident occurred the morning after Russell M Nelson, the oldest-ever president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, died at 101.
Shootings reported in North Carolina, New Orleans, Texas
Meanwhile, authorities responded to a mass shooting at a coastal town in North Carolina late on Saturday, where three people were killed.
At least eight others were injured in that incident, where someone opened fire from a boat into a crowd at a bar.
Another shooting took place at a south Texas casino early on Sunday, with seven people shot and two killed.
A woman was also killed, and three others were injured in Bourbon Street, New Orleans, early on Sunday after a shooting.
It was one sentence among the many words Donald Trump spoke this week that caught my attention.
Midway through a jaw-dropping news conference where he sensationally claimed to have “found an answer on autism”, he said: “Bobby (Kennedy) wants to be very careful with what he says, but I’m not so careful with what I say.”
The US president has gone from pushing the envelope to completely unfiltered.
Last Sunday, moments after Charlie Kirk‘s widow Erika had publicly forgiven her husband’s killer, Mr Trump told the congregation at his memorial service that he “hates his opponents”.
President Donald Trump embraces Charlie Kirk’s widow Erika. Pic: AP
Twenty-four hours later, he drew fierce rebuke from medical experts by linking the use of Tylenol (paracetamol) during pregnancy to increased risk of autism.
The president treats professional disapproval not as a liability but as evidence of authenticity, fuelling the aura that he is a challenger of conventions.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
‘Paracetamol use in pregnancy perfectly safe’
On Tuesday, he went to the United Nations, where his frustrations over a stalled escalator and teleprompter failure were the prelude to the most combative address.
“I’m really good at this stuff. Your countries are going to hell,” he told his audience, deriding Europe’s approach to immigration as a “failed experiment of open borders”.
Mr Trump addresses the UN General Assembly in New York. Pic: Reuters
Then came a U-turn on Ukraine, suggesting the country could win back all the land it has lost to Russia.
Most politicians would be punished for inconsistency, but Mr Trump recasts this as strategic genius – framing himself as dictating the terms.
It is hard to keep track when his expressed hopes for peace in Ukraine and Gaza are peppered with social media posts condemning the return of Jimmy Kimmel to late-night television.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Trump’s major shift in Ukraine policy
Perhaps most striking of all is his reaction to the indictment of James Comey, the FBI director he fired during his first term.
In theory, this should raise questions about the president’s past conflicts with law enforcement, but he frames it as vindication, proof that his enemies fall while he survives.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Ex-FBI chief: ‘Costs to standing up to Trump’
Mr Trump has spent much of his political career cultivating an image of a man above the normal consequences of politics, law or diplomacy, but he appears to feel more invincible than ever.
Read more from Sky News:
Musk and Prince Andrew named in latest Epstein files
Trump: ‘Looks like we have a deal’ to end war in Gaza
From funerals to world summits, world peace to public health, he projects the same image: rules are for others.
It is the politics of the untouchable.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Sports3 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment12 months agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024