Sean Combs Jury Reaches Partial Verdict, Deadlocks on Racketeering Conspiracy

Jurors at Sean Combs’ sex trafficking and racketeering trial reached a partial verdict Tuesday but remained divided on the major count alleging the music mogul ran a criminal enterprise. Deliberations are expected to continue Wednesday starting at 9 a.m.

The jury sent a note to Judge Arun Subramanian at around 4:05 p.m. saying that after less than two days of deliberations, they successfully reached verdicts on four of the five charges against Combs. They then told the court they were “unable” to reach a unanimous decision on Count One, racketeering conspiracy, saying they had “unpersuadable opinions on both sides.”

As Combs’ lawyers informed him of the partial verdict, the music mogul stood for a moment before plopping into his chair. With his team huddled around him, a visibly anxious Combs stared straight ahead until Agnifilo brought him the handwritten note to read for himself. As the parties conferred on how to respond to the jury, Combs’ three sons and three daughters shuffled into the courtroom.

Combs faces five felony charges, including racketeering conspiracy, two counts of sex trafficking related to two ex-girlfriends, and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty and denied the allegations against him. 

While both the prosecution and defense told Subramanian that they wanted the jury to keep deliberating, they differed slightly on the best way to respond to the jury’s note. Prosecutors asked for a modified Allen charge — essentially an instruction urging the jury to reach a verdict — while the defense said they believed such forceful language wasn’t required at this time. 

Subramanian didn’t appear particularly moved by either proposal. “There’s not much there,” he said, reading the defense request. “I don’t know if the jury needs help,” Agnifilo said, calling them “remarkably efficient” for reaching four verdicts in only 12 hours. Prosecutors asked for a softer version of an Allen charge and pushed for an extra sentence used during the prosecution of disgraced lawyer Michael Avenatti instructing there was no reason to conclude that any other jury trying the same case would be any more competent and intelligent. Subramanian denied that request

Subramanian kept it simple. “I ask that you keep deliberating,” he instructed the panel before reiterating some of his original instructions about jury deliberations. “It is your duty as jurors to consult with one another and to deliberate with a view to reaching an agreement,” he said. “Each of you must decide the case for himself or herself, but you should do so only after a consideration of the case with your fellow jurors, and you should not hesitate to change an opinion when convinced that it is erroneous. Discuss and weigh your respective opinions dispassionately, without regard to sympathy, without regard to prejudice or favor for either party, and follow my instructions on the law.”

To reach a verdict on a RICO Act charge, a jury must consider several different factors. As Subramanian explained in his original instructions, the jury has to find that at least two people agreed (whether spoken or unspoken) to participate in a criminal enterprise; that Combs was a willful member of that enterprise; that two so-called predicate crimes were committed as part of the conspiracy; and that these activities affected interstate or foreign commerce. 

There are eight so-called predicate acts listed in the indictment that the jurors have to choose from, including bribery, drug distribution, arson, kidnapping, sex trafficking, forced labor, witness tampering, or transportation to engage in prostitution. 

During her closing argument, prosecutor Christy Slavik laid out testimony related to each option, including the time Combs allegedly gave a hotel security guard a $100,000 cash “bribe” for what he believed was the only copy of a surveillance video showing Combs beating his ex-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura at a Los Angeles hotel in march 2016. She also argued that forced labor could include the “grueling” sex marathons Combs allegedly forced Ventura and another ex-girlfriend, to participate in. 

Combs’ defense attorney, Marc Agnifilo, countered the racketeering charge by arguing that no one except Combs was indicted, and none of the other witnesses who testified “said they were part of an enterprise.” He also pushed back specifically on the predicate act of arson, which relates to the alleged firebombing of a car belonging to Kid Cudi, who briefly dated Ventura. Agnifilo called arson “cowardly,” said it was not Combs’ “style,” and insisted Combs would have confronted Cudi in a “good, old-fashioned fistfight.”

While the jury still needs to hash out the racketeering conspiracy charge, they have reached verdicts on the two counts of sex trafficking related to Combs’ two ex-girlfriends, Casandra “Cassie” Ventura and a woman who testified under the pseudonym Jane. They also came to an agreement on the related charges of transportation to engage in prostitution where Combs is accused of paying male escorts to fly across state lines to have sex with his girlfriends.