The promise by the judge to the jury in Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex-trafficking trial to wrap up by Independence Day is looking increasingly shaky with proceedings dark today due to a sick juror and a little time in court for the rest of the week.
Another wild card is whether or not the Bad Boy Records founder himself will testify in his own defense.
Similar to the now partially punted rape retrial of Harvey Weinstein, speculation of if Combs will take the big swing and testify in his own trial has become rampant.
Behind the scenes, things are a lot less dramatic, I’m told. According to sources, Combs is weighing his options, and no decision has been made yet if he’ll take the stand. If Combs was to roll the judicial dice and testify it could prove as much of a risk for him as an opportunity to tell his side of the admittedly sordid story.
As a rule, defense attorneys encourage their clients not to testify in their own cases. “It opens you up to too many variables and surprises,” a prominent defense attorney told Deadline on the subject of high-profile defendants testifying for themselves. “Plus, the jury’s impression of your guy can be tainted with one wrong word or evasion, not worth it.”
Contacted by Deadline, reps for Combs defense did not reply to queries about his possible testimony.
Outside of the unknown of Combs’ testimony, the criminal trial, which started on May 12, was all set to go Wednesday AM ET with testimony from former Combs assistant Brendan Paul.
Brendan Paul (R) arrives at the federal courthouse in Lower Manhattan on June 18, 2025 (Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images)
Taking the stand under an immunity deal sealed Tuesday, the reluctant Paul stood to be one of the last witnesses for the prosecution. However, with Diddy and lawyers for both the 10-lawyer deep defense and the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York in the lower Manhattan courtroom, that all went south from the start of business.
A self-described “partner” of one of the jurors called in to the court to say that the individual in question was suffering from “vertigo symptoms” and was heading home.
Conveying that to the assembled, Judge Arun Subramanian said: “I don’t see how we can proceed today.” With that he pulled the plug for today, with an indication that one of the alternates would step in if the juror is unable to return to court in the new few days.
Arrested in September and in custody at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, the 55-year-old Combs could end up spending the rest of his life in prison if found guilty on federal charges of racketeering, sex trafficking, transportation to engage in prostitution and more.
Facing dozens and dozens of civil suits of abuse and assault from accessors in a number of states, Combs has always insisted he’s innocent on all claims – even though he quickly paid out $20 million to ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura in November 2023 to settle her explosive legal action. In their opening statement, the defense actually took the offensive and admitted Combs was a swinger, a drug user, a domestic abuser and hard to like, but, ever with harrowing testimony from a very pregnant Ventura and many others, attorney Teny Geragoes emphasized her client hasn’t been charged with any of that.
In terms of the next few days in the Kanye West cameoed trial and the feds’ hopes to finish their case by Friday, the calendar is also a factor now. The court will be closed Thursday for Juneteenth and June 20 has been scheduled as a half-day for a while. That means, with a couple more quick witnesses on the books to go, the Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey-led prosecution likely won’t end its case until June 24.
Yesterday in court, lead defense attorney Marc Agnifilo said he anticipates only needing two to five days for their case.
That is a significant drop from the two to three weeks, the defense plotted for their presentation earlier in the trial. If, and let’s be honest, it is a big “if,” Combs’ team hit the five-day maximum mark, it would be closing arguments on and around July 1 and then the case would go to the jury for deliberations perhaps by July 3.
All of which would see the non-sequestered eight-man, and four-women jury off for the July 4th weekend and then back to work on a verdict for the week of July 7. The search for a verdict on the hard charges Combs is up against is, of course, a wild card until itself and could take days or weeks.
A sick juror Wednesday comes just two days after Judge Subramanian denied the defense’s latest mistrial motion and dismissed then Juror No. 6 from the trial. Over the objection of the racial bias exclaiming defense, the juror, a 41-year-old Black man who works in an administrative role at a state correctional facility, was replaced by an alternate of a 57-year-old White male manufacturing architect from Westchester County. The now ex-Juror No. 6 drew attention to himself and to eventually being tossed from the case by raising suspicions over where he actually live – if it was in New York or in neighboring New Jersey.
As lovely as the Garden State is, if you live there you can’t serve on an Empire State jury, federal or state.
