Sean “Diddy” Combs tried to reassure his mother, Janice Combs, in court as the jury in his sex trafficking trial continued deliberations on Tuesday, July 1.
The disgraced mogul, 55, was spotted talking to his mom, 84, inside the Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. Courthouse during a brief court session, per CNN. “Just relax, it’s gonna be alright,” Diddy reportedly told his mother before complimenting her outfit. (Janice was wearing a green-and-white zebra-print pants and shirt set.)
The jury began deliberations on Monday, June 30, after the prosecution and defense delivered their closing arguments last week. Diddy is facing charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges and denied all of the allegations against him.
During this morning’s court session, prosecutors and defense attorneys debated how to respond to a jury note asking for clarification on the definition of “distribution.”
The government pushed to answer with a simple “yes,” but defense attorney Marc Agnifolo objected, urging the court to point jurors back to the entire instruction of the charge. Judge Arun Subramanian rejected the defense’s vague proposal, concluding that it would “leave the jury at sea.”
He ultimately sent the jury the following note: “In response to the jury’s question, the court refers the jury to page 37, lines 1 through 3 of its jury charge.”
Those lines read: “The word ‘distribution’ means actual, constructive or attempted transfer. To distribute simply means to deliver, to pass over or to hand over something to another person, or to cause it to be delivered, passed on or handed over to another. Distribution does not require a sale.”
The jury also requested transcripts from parts of Cassie’s testimony, including the sections where she discussed the 2016 incident at the InterContinental hotel where Diddy was caught on camera physically assaulting her. CNN published an edited version of the surveillance footage in May 2024, and Diddy publicly apologized for his actions in a video shared via social media.
Diddy Prosecution Ends Rebuttal by Reminding Jury ‘He’s Not a God’
Diddy and Cassie, now 38, dated off and on from 2007 to 2018. She testified for four days in May and shared harrowing details about the alleged “freak off” sex parties she participated in with Diddy. The “Me & U” singer claimed that she would often continue to perform while battling urinary tract infections because she didn’t feel she could say no.
During her closing argument on Thursday, June 26, Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Slavik emphasized to the jury they need only find one example of a freak off where coercion took place in order to find Diddy guilty of sex trafficking. She further argued that Cassie and other women’s participation in the freak offs was forced labor. “This was not for Cassie’s pleasure. This was work,” Slavik said.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential support. If you or someone you know is a human trafficking victim, contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888.
