SLUMPED

The Gesture Diddy Made After Jury’s Deliberation Note Revealed

The music mogul immediately reacted to news from the jury on their deliberations.

Before Manhattan Federal Court Judge Arun Subramanian read aloud the jury’s 4:05 p.m. note on Tuesday in the Sean “Diddy” Combs trial, the music mogul’s defense team learned of its contents.

They gathered around their client, a defeated-looking figure in a light yellow sweater and grey pants, as he slumped in his chair, staring at the words on a white piece of paper.

Minutes later, however, as the day came to a close, Combs took a cue from his lawyers when he turned to his family members who were inside the courtroom and placed his hand over his heart—an attempt to reassure them, just as his lawyers tried to reassure him.

In the moment, however, Combs’ lawyers’ encouraging words and gestures did not keep the music mogul’s head from drooping. His right hand rose to wipe the corner of his eye and then dropped to his thigh, tapping, tapping, tapping without the beats he had laid down during his rise to fame. Whatever hope he still had of prevailing in this case and returning to his life as a hip-hop billionaire, he was evidencing none of it.

The reason why became clear to anyone who then heard the judge make the jury’s words known to everyone in courtroom 26A.

“We have reached a verdict on counts 2, 3, 4, and 5…” the note began.

Those were charges of forcible sex trafficking and transportation for prostitution.

“...We have not reached a verdict on count 1 because we have unpersuadable jurors on both sides.”

That was a racketeering charge, which alleges Combs ran a criminal enterprise that engaged in arson, kidnapping, bribery, witness tampering, forced labor, and drug distribution. That carries a maximum life sentence, as do each of the sex trafficking counts. The prostitution counts have a maximum sentence of 10 years apiece.

Combs had pleaded not guilty to all counts at the start of the six-week trial, but Tuesday afternoon’s note suggested that the jurors were not likely to fully agree. The testimony they had requested to review earlier included that of the star of 30 witnesses against Diddy, singer/former girlfriend Cassie Ventura, who painfully recounted enduring 11 years of sexual and physical abuse at the hands of Combs.

The jury no doubt remembered that Cassie was now married and eight months pregnant when she took the stand. Among the specific sections of the transcript the jury was given to review in a searchable PDF was one concerning the infamous hotel surveillance video in which he kicked and stomped her and dragged her by her hair.

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The jurors had sent out the aforementioned note just before it seemed their deliberations might be done for the day. Combs’ mother, Janice Combs, 85, was in the second spectators’ row. She peered with inquisitive alarm as her son’s lawyers surrounded him. She kept her composure upon hearing the judge read the note. So did her three granddaughters, who sat to her right, classy and poised tributes to the respective mothers who raised them—if not to the father they clearly adore despite it all.

The judge called in the jurors and Combs’ daughters, along with their father, watched the eight men and four women who will decide the Bad Boy Records founder’s fate file in.

“I ask at this time that you keep deliberating,” the judge said.

The jurors, however, decided they were done for the day and departed. But they will all return at 9 a.m. on Wednesday to continue considering Count 1.

But after another night in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, Diddy will be back in court with a case where the damning evidence includes that video of him stomping the star witness.

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Michael DalySpecial Correspondent

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