Jury to keep deliberating after deadlocking on most serious charge

The jury in Sean’s “Diddy” Combs will continue to deliberate after reaching a partial verdict, but the most serious declines confronted with the hip-hop magnate.

At the New York Federal Court, the 12 jurors announced that they had agreed four of the five counts, but could not decide on the accusation of racketeering, which bears a possible perpetuity prison sentence.

The atmosphere was tense while the rapper was seated with his head tilted, his hands folded on his lap. His lawyers sometimes put their arms around him. The deliberations will resume Wednesday morning.

Mr. Combs, 55, pleaded not guilty to the five accusations, including sexual traffic, racketeering and transport to engage in prostitution.

In the past two months, the jury has heard 34 witnesses, including former friends, former employees of Mr. Combres, male escorts and federal agents.

Around 4:30 p.m. Hae Tuesday (8:30 p.m. GMT), the jury announced that they had returned one out of four of the five counts, after two days of deliberations.

The panel said they could not reach an agreement on racketeering accusation because the jurors on both sides have opinions that are impregnated.

Judge Arun Subramanian heard the rapper’s accusation and lawyer’s arguments on how to proceed, before urge jurors to continue trying to make a unanimous decision. Their verdicts on the other four charges have not been disclosed.

The accusation urged the judge to use an Allen accusation, which is a set of instructions given to a suspended jury to press its members to make a unanimous decision.

Allen’s accusations are controversial, because some believe that they can exert excessive pressure on the juries, forcing them to change their positions or to the cave at peer pressure – especially when their opinion is a minority.

The jury will return Wednesday and could potentially continue to deliberate on July 3 – when the court normally closed before the public holidays on July 4.

The unanimous decision of the panel on most counts after less than two days of deliberations could be a good sign for prosecutors, said Robert Mintz, lawyer and former federal prosecutor at the BBC.

But to obtain a conviction for the accusation of racketeering, the prosecutors had to prove that Mr. Combs established a criminal business – a coordinated plan between the musician and at least another person to commit at least two crimes over a period of several years.

“It would always be the most difficult accusation for prosecutors to obtain a conviction,” said Mintz.

“It is a very complicated accusation, generally used in the past in prosecution against organized crime and it is therefore not surprising that it is the only accusation that grants the most difficulty jury.”

The accused also went through Puffy, Puff Daddy, P Diddy, Love and Brother Love.

He used his stature in the industry to found his successful Sean John clothing line and played in several reality TV shows, one where the candidates competed to be part of his group.

In 2023, he released his fifth disc The Love Album: Off The Grid and obtained his first solo appointment at the Grammy Awards. He was also appointed global icon to MTV Awards.