A member of the jury in the sex trafficking trial of rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs has been evacuated after giving conflicting answers approximately where he lives.
During jury choice, the attendant shown on a survey that he lived in the Bronx range of Unused York. But more as of late, he told a court staffer he had moved in with his sweetheart in Modern Jersey.
On Friday, Judge Arun Subramanian said he had found “several inconsistencies” between the juror’s answers in court transcripts, which he said might propose a crave to “be deceptive” in an exertion to get on the jury.
Lawyers for Combs had restricted the choice, saying that Combs would be “substantially preferential by the dismissal” of a dark male from the jury.
The member of the jury has been supplanted by an elective attendant, a 57-year-old white father from Westchester.
Combs, 55, has argued not blameworthy to charges of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to lock in in prostitution.
The conceivable expulsion of the attendant has been examined by attorneys for the past week.
Lead prosecutor Maurene Comey had inquired that a member of the jury be expelled for what she portrayed as “a need of candour”.
The indictment said the member of the jury had unveiled that he as of late moved to Modern Shirt with his sweetheart and had been remaining there for most of the trial.
When he was addressed behind closed entryways, the attendant said he was remaining in an loft in the Bronx, Modern York, amid the week, for four to five evenings, when he was working and doing jury duty.
But the legal hearer had said at an prior arrange, in a planned member of the jury meet a few weeks prior, that he lived in the Bronx with his fiancée and daughter.
At one point, the member of the jury had moreover specified living with an close relative, but afterward overlooked her.
The judge said he had found “several inconsistencies” between the juror’s answers in the court transcripts.
The irregularities, the judge said, seem point to a crave to “shade answers” and raised genuine questions around the juror’s “candour” and his “ability to take after instructions”.
The judge famous that there were six elective legal hearers to protect the “integrity” of the court. “Removal of the attendant is required, in this court’s view,” the judge said.
One of Combs’ legal counselors, Xavier Donaldson, protested to the judge’s slant, saying it is “very, exceptionally common” for Unused Yorkers to move between the city and Unused Jersey.
He said he accepted the court is “equating irregularities with lying.”
“I do accept he will be able to take after instructions,” Donaldson said, including that Member of the jury No. 6 has been “awake – I can’t say they all have been awake”.
The defence’s fundamental protest related to the juror’s race, with Donaldson noticing that the trial’s jury was the most different he had seen in his three-decade career.
“That portion is critical to me and my client,” Donaldson said, including that if the court were to expel the member of the jury, it would be “a step backwards.”
“I don’t by and large play the race card unless I have it in my hand,” Donaldson said.
Combs’s legitimate group had asked a mistrial ought to the attendant be dismissed.
‘Wonderful thing’
Federal prosecutors rejected the suggestion that they were making choices based on race, commenting that it was a “wonderful thing” that the jury was diverse.
The judge said the jury in the trial does not raise concerns approximately differences, including: “The court cannot and ought to not let race figure into what it ought to do.”
On Monday, the judge said: “There is nothing the attendant can say at this point that can put the genie back in the bottle and repair his credibility.”
Eight men and four ladies were chosen for the jury, along with six substitutes. The trial is in its 6th week.
The indictment plans to wrap up displaying its case this week, at which point the protection will have the chance to call its claim witnesses.