Diddy trial judge meets with lawyers to discuss jury instructions
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Today, Judge Arun Subramanian And the lawyers on both sides of the case held what is called a conference on charges – a meeting where key players finalize the instructions for the jury. (The jurors, who have spent much of the last seven weeks listening to testimonies and reviewing the evidence, have obtained a day off.)
Subramanian opened the conference by announcing that the prosecutors and defense lawyers agreed on the language for the verdict form. He then turned his attention to the charge sheet, a document that explains the counts against the accused. The judge gave lawyers a chance to raise objections page by page, line by line, word by word.
In other news: US government prosecutors tighten their files against Diddy. In a letter tabled yesterday, they asked the judge to strike the language concerning a “tempted” abduction and a criminal fire of the instructions of the jury. NBC News’ David K. Li has more details here.
The step is now defined to close the arguments. Reminder: US government prosecutors seek to condemn Diddy for three accusations – conspiracy in racketeering, sex trafficking and transport to engage in prostitution. Diddy pleaded not guilty and his lawyers insisted that he was never the leader of an alleged criminal business.
🔎 Interior view
By Adam Reiss, Chloe Melas, Katherine Koretski and Jing Feng
Subramanian seemed surprised – or perhaps just amused – by the number of journalists who showed up for today’s charge conference. “This is the greatest number of people I saw during a indictment,” said the judge. “Close!”
👨⚖️ Analysis: why are the charge conferences important
By Danny Cevallos
The charges conference may seem dry, but it is one of the most critical stages in the trial.
It is tedious to spend the day not to explain whether it is necessary to add a word or a comma to an instruction on consent or payment of sex. At the same time, these words are undoubtedly much more important than anything that lawyers say during their closures. Jurors are informed that what lawyers say is not proof. They are told that jury’s instructions are the law.
Thus, the Conference of charges is sometimes marked by long periods of boredom, punctuated by moments of terror – often wondering if the terminology which has just found its way in the instructions will make the difference between a guilt or a acquittal.
Especially for first instance lawyers, which have just finished the performative examinations fed by Adrenaline from the witnesses for weeks, suddenly seated for a day and quietly watch the trains of paper can be an accident. And, although they are probably all in the future and focusing on their fence arguments, the charges conference can be the place where the battle is really won or lost.
Psa: Every night during the Diddy’s trial, “Dateline” of NBC will abandon the special episodes of the Podcast “True Crime Weekly” to inform you. “Datelin” correspondent Andrea Canning Cats with NBC News’ Chloé Melas And special guests – just opposite the courthouse. Listen here. 🎧
