MIXING IT UP

Diddy Defense Plays ‘Race Card’ as Judge Dismisses Black Juror

A 90s hip-hop fan was swapped out for a Westchester architect on Combs’ jury.

Sean “Diddy” Combs’ defense hit what it’s interpreting as a setback on Monday, when the judge in his sex trafficking case dismissed Juror No. 6. According to The New York Times, the 41-year-old Black juror, a Department of Corrections employee, was replaced with an alternate, a 57-year-old white manufacturing architect from Westchester. Juror No. 6’s dismissal came after he gave conflicting answers about where he lives, which the prosecution said showed a “lack of candor.” He originally told the courts he lived in the Bronx and was a fan of 90s hip hop—a pool more likely to take kindly to Combs despite the damning accusations emerging from his racketeering trial. Later, he’d off-handedly told a member of court staff that he’d moved to New Jersey to live with his fiancée, and appeared to adjust his answers at different times in order to remain on the jury. Combs’ defense attorney Xavier Donaldson called the prosecution’s request to remove him a “thinly veiled effort to dismiss a Black juror.” He added, “I don’t play the race card unless I have it in my hand, and I’m not saying I’m playing it now, but the facts are what the facts are.” Judge Arun Subramanian sided with the prosecution: “There has been no evidence and no showing of any kind of any biased conduct or biased manner of proceeding from the government.” He added, per CNN, “It would be improper to let the race of the juror and the alternate juror factor into the proper course here all.” Replacing Juror No. 6 leaves just one Black man on the jury.