Ahead of Sean Combs’ arraignment on two superseding indictments Friday, federal prosecutors and Combs’ defense attorneys are proposing vastly different timelines for a jury selection as both parties gear up for the May trial.
The government is seeking to start jury selection on Monday, April 21, with the hope the seated jury could hear opening arguments in the sex trafficking and racketeering case by Monday, May 5, according to the joint letter obtained by Rolling Stone. (Combs has pleaded not guilty to the charges.) With the government anticipating roughly an eight-week trial — six weeks for prosecutors and two for defense — any deviation from that schedule could be threatened by the July 4th weekend, which in turn could impact the potential jury pool.
“If the Court does not commence [jury selection] prior to May 5, 2025, the trial will likely last beyond the July 4th holiday, creating unnecessary additional challenges in seating a jury,” the government’s lawyers warned U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian on Thursday afternoon.
Combs’ legal team, however, wants the jury selection to begin May 5th. They’ve recommended that a pool of 600 potential jurors — a large number of people, even for such a high-profile case — “complete written questionnaires.” From those 600 questionnaires, “the parties would then collect and review the completed questionnaires, and lodge for-cause challenge” as both sides whittle down the pool to 12 jurors and a few alternates.
Prosecutors oppose the written questionnaire or any questionnaire in general outside of “logistical” ones — (“i.e. whether any conflicts would prevent a juror from being seated for an 8-week trial”) — while Combs’ team argued that starting the jury selection any earlier than May 5th would “substantially prejudice the defense” due to the “tremendous amount of discovery to review and prepare in advance of trial.” Combs’ lawyers instead suggested May 13th for opening statements, although that start date would likely mean the trial would blow past the government’s feared July 4th deadline.
Also in the joint letter, Combs’ defense attorneys wrote that they have “confirmed through a forensic video analysis” that the surveillance footage showing Combs physically attacking his ex-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura” in a hotel hallway was “substantially altered in significant respects.”
“This includes covering the time stamp and then changing the video sequence. It also includes speeding up the video to make it falsely appear that the actions in the video are taking place faster than they are,” Combs’ lawyers wrote. “As a result, the CNN videos do not fairly and accurately depict the events in question.” (A rep for CNN did not reply to a request for comment.)
Although Combs’ defense team claimed in court papers that CNN — after purchasing the “only known copy” of the surveillance footage and allegedly altering the video — “destroyed the original footage even though it knew about and repeatedly reported about the federal investigation,” prosecutors previously acknowledged to possessing a different version of the tape.
In a court hearing on November 22, Christy Slavik, an attorney for the government, said that although prosecutors later obtained a copy of the footage that CNN aired, they also had gained access from “cell phone camera footage” of the incident “from a grand jury witness.”
“The other thing, your Honor,” Slavik added. “Is that the phone camera footage shows the exact same thing as the CNN video. So I really don’t think that there is any discrepancy in what both videos show.”
The opposing proposals come ahead of a scheduled hearing on Friday in Combs’ sex trafficking and racketeering criminal case. The 55-year-old will also be arraigned on two new superseding indictments against him, which added alleged offenses under the racketeering act. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
In late January, prosecutors added two alleged victims to the case, accused Combs of “dangl[ing] a victim over a hotel balcony,” and possessed and intended to distribute meth and hallucinogens. Earlier this month, a second superseding indictment was unveiled, alleging Combs abused his employees, including using threats and physical force against one employee to engage in sex acts with him.
From Rolling Stone US
