Jury selection for sex trafficking trial of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is pushed to next week

NEW YORK AP The final stage of jury selection for the racketeering and sex trafficking trial of hip-hop mogul Sean Diddy Combs was postponed until early next week right before opening arguments begin a federal judge decided on Friday Prosecutors allege that Combs used his fame and power at the top of the hip-hop world to sexually abuse women from to He pleaded not guilty after his September arrest and has remained held without bail at a federal lockup in Brooklyn Judge Arun Subramanian granted a request by defense lawyers to delay until Monday the final step in the jury selection process expected to last less than an hour Prosecutors unsuccessfully objected The attainable jurors were not present on Friday as federal prosecutors and lawyers assembled in a Manhattan courtroom with Combs also present to narrow a pool of prospective jurors down to a jury of and six alternates who will hear the two-month trial For three days this week would-be jurors had been inquired questions to help the judge and lawyers determine if they could be fair and impartial And they were also questioned to ensure they could decide the scenario on the facts even after seeing explicit videos of sexual activity that specific might find disturbing On Monday prosecutors will be permitted to strike six prospective jurors from the jury while defense lawyers were allowed strikes before the jury is finalized Generally lawyers do not have to explain why they are ejecting individuals from the panel The process was expected to take up to an hour If Combs is convicted on all charges which include racketeering kidnapping arson bribery and sex trafficking he would face a mandatory years in prison and could remain behind bars for life Prosecutors allege that the Bad Boy Records founder used his fame and power at the top of the hip-hop world to sexually abuse women from to An indictment includes descriptions of Freak Offs drugged-up orgies in which women were forced to have sex with male sex workers while Combs filmed them The charges against him also portray Combs as abusive to his casualties sometimes choking hitting kicking and dragging them often by the hair Once the indictment alleges he even dangled someone from a balcony His lawyers contend that prosecutors are trying to criminalize sexual activity between consenting adults They concede that Combs had abused various substances but say he has undergone rehabilitation A centerpiece of the evidence against him are recordings of Combs beating a longtime girlfriend in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in After a video of the encounter aired on CNN last year Combs apologized saying I take full responsibility for my actions in that video I was disgusted then when I did it I m disgusted now Numerous prospective jurors interviewed by the judge this week explained they had seen the video and particular were deemed to be too affected by it to be impartial and remain in the jury pool