Lawyers on both sides of the Sean “Diddy” Combs trial hammered down instructions Wednesday for the jury to begin deliberations once closing arguments wrap up in the former record executive’s federal trial for alleged sex crimes.
Prior to a charge conference, prosecutors indicated in court they are not pursuing a number of allegations against the “Victory” rapper that pertain to a racketeering charge.
The updated request from the government more than seven weeks after the trial began gave pause for concern about the status of the case. Criminal defense attorney Eric Faddis, founding partner of Colorado-based Varner Faddis, explained that eleventh-hour changes in the charges might mislead the jury.
DIDDY PROSECUTORS ABANDON MULTIPLE ALLEGATIONS AGAINST RAPPER DAYS BEFORE TRIAL’S END
“In order to find Diddy guilty of RICO, the jury has to find him guilty of at least two underlying crimes in connection with the alleged criminal enterprise, Bad Boy Entertainment,” Faddis told Fox News Digital. “This move by the prosecution significantly limits the underlying crimes the jury can consider in deciding if Diddy is guilty of RICO, thereby reducing the scope of the RICO charge and the case more generally. All things considered, I think it makes it less likely that Diddy will be found guilty of RICO.”
In a letter submitted to Judge Arun Subramanian Tuesday and obtained by Fox News Digital, the government indicated it will not be pursuing theories of attempted kidnapping, attempted arson and aiding and abetting sex trafficking.
“The Government understands the Court’s desire for streamlined instructions. With that in mind, the Government has suggested ways to streamline those instructions,” the document states.
“Specifically, the Government has removed instructions from the charge relating to (i) attempted kidnapping under both California and New York law, (ii) attempted arson under California law, and (iii) aiding and abetting sex trafficking. The Government is no longer planning to proceed on these theories of liability so instructions are no longer necessary.”
The simplified charges could help “streamline the deliberations and cause the jury to focus” on only the RICO crimes, Faddis said.
“On the other hand, it could damage the government’s credibility, as they promised this jury at the beginning of trial that they could prove crimes they now are dismissing,” Faddis noted. “The jury might feel misled, see this is a partial surrender and view the remaining allegations with even more skepticism.”
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Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani clarified that “there are no charges being dropped in the Diddy case.”
“The prosecution’s letter to the court says they are no longer pursuing the attempted kidnapping and attempted arson as predicate acts for racketeering,” Rahmani told Fox News Digital. “But they can still argue that the completed kidnapping of Cassie Ventura and Capricorn Clark and the completed arson of Kid Cudi’s vehicle are RICO acts.
“The same applies to the sex trafficking counts. The government is arguing that Diddy sex trafficked the victims, not that he aided and embedded others to do so. The prosecution is just simplifying the charges for the jury to avoid confusion. This doesn’t really change anything, and the legal arguments they’re going to make during closing will remain the same.”
Criminal defense and civil rights attorney Adanté Pointer of Oakland-based Lawyers for the People LLC believes the prosecution is acknowledging that evidence presented didn’t pass muster.
“Prosecutors are conceding that they do not believe they have met their burden of proof as it relates to proving he attempted to commit arson or attempted to kidnap someone as predicate acts for the racketeering and aiding and abetting sex trafficking charges,” Pointer said.
“Nevertheless, the statement they provided the court says they abandoned these predicate acts because they want to ‘streamline’ the case for the jury.
“If you believe that, then one can also be led to believe prosecutors think they have a better chance at proving up the other predicate acts they presented to the jury during the trial, such as that Diddy engaged in forced labor, narcotics offenses, bribery and the obstruction of justice to further the goals of his criminal enterprise to coerce and/or force the women into participating in the ‘freak-offs’ and ‘king nights.’
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“The jury will have less evidence to mull over and less theories of liability to consider for determining whether Diddy and his co-conspirators’ conduct meet the requisite evidentiary threshold for a criminal enterprise,” Pointer added. “Keep in mind, using a RICO charge to prosecute a celebrity business mogul for alleged sexual misconduct is very uncommon.”
Diddy was charged with racketeering conspiracy (RICO); sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion; and transportation to engage in prostitution in a federal indictment unsealed Sept. 17.
A federal RICO violation can result in a 20-year sentence per charge, the U.S. Code 2421 transportation charge can carry a sentence of up to 10 years and U.S. Code 2422 Coercion and enticement may carry a 20-year sentence. Each of the violations may also include monetary fines.
The government presented 34 witnesses in an attempt to prove its case, with jurors hearing explosive testimony from Diddy’s ex-girlfriends, rapper Kid Cudi, former assistants and escorts who allegedly participated in “freak offs” arranged by the disgraced music mogul.
While the amended acts were initially surprising, Texas criminal defense attorney Sam Bassett told Fox News Digital there’s still “no major change” in the case.
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“The elimination of some of the predicate acts does not eliminate the RICO conspiracy count,” Bassett said. “This change simplifies the case somewhat for the jury, as they are no longer going to consider attempted kidnapping and arson as one of the ways the conspiracy was manifested. The judge and presumably the jury will be dealing with lengthy instructions, so this simplifies their job, albeit not in a major way.”
