Oh no…
If you’ve been following the Diddy trial, you know the witnesses and closing arguments wrapped up last week. Both the prosecution and defense rested their cases. So this week began with instructions to the jury, and the process of deliberation has begun.
Well, within minutes the court was shocked to get this note from the jury:
“We have a juror, No. 25, who we are concerned cannot follow your honor’s instructions.”
Wait, WHAT?! A juror who can’t follow the court’s instructions? WTF does that mean??
We can only guess at the moment. But Judge Arun Subramanian‘s instructions, per the BBC, were mostly about how to weigh the evidence and by what guidelines one should find Combs guilty. For instance, telling them a guilty verdict for sex trafficking required that they believe Diddy knowingly “used fraud, force or coercion” and that it “affected interstate commerce.” That kind of thing.
Related: Diddy’s Shocking Trial — Everything We Know So Far…
So if a juror can’t follow those instructions… does that mean that one person made up their mind already? They announced to the room they’re not going to consider the facts at all??
A jury consultant confirmed to CNN it’s “quite notable, especially at this early stage of the process” for the jury to say this. So what’s the juror’s issue?? Here’s what we know about Juror No. 25, per the outlet: He’s “a 51-year-old male who works as a scientist and lives in Manhattan with his domestic partner.” Huh.
If we had to guess, we’d say this is much better news for the defense. Traditional wisdom is that, on average, a jury that comes back more quickly is more likely to convict. One that argues a long time is more likely to acquit or declare they’re hung. And also a male juror is more likely than a female juror to acquit in the case of sex crimes against women. According to studies, anyway. Obviously this is ALL speculation, no one knows what’s going on in there. We’re just saying, if we were taking bets on the case, the odds just shifted a bit more in the defense’s favor.
But don’t take it from us! We’re just celebrity gossip bloggers! Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani offered his take to Fox News Digital:
“A juror who ‘cannot follow your honor’s instructions’ is a potential stealth juror and we’re looking at the possibility of jury nullification.”
OMG! That means when the jury votes to acquit even when they believe the defendant is guilty — essentially nullifying the law in question. A “stealth juror” is someone who went in with biases one way or the other and was able to hide them during jury selection. That could ruin the whole case! Rahmani explained there are only two options for the judge:
“Judge Subramanian can admonish the juror, but if they still refuse to follow instructions, his only real options are to dismiss the juror under Rules 23 and 24 and replace them with an alternate, but that will create an appellate issue, or declare a mistrial and we’ll have to start all over.”
Leave the door open for an appeal or START ALL OVER?!? He added:
“The defense has to be feeling good right now.”
Sheesh!
Seriously though, how did they get to this point after just a couple minutes?? This sounds like a jury at the end of its rope after sweating it out for hours and hours. We’re talking the first few minutes on the first day! How is it this out of control??
Deliberations had to stop entirely while they waited for a note back from the judge. His Honor asked both the prosecution and defense for suggestions and went with the prosecution’s, writing:
“I received your note. I remind every juror of their duty to deliberate and their obligation to follow my instruction on the law. With that instruction in mind, please continue deliberating.”
They were quiet for a while. But eventually they wrote back.
After over five hours, the jury sent two more notes. The first was asking for clarity on a technical question: if someone asks for drugs, is the person who gives it to them still considered to be distributing them. Huh. The other note was not made public. So we have no idea what that’s about. Could it be about Juror No. 25 again? Maybe we’ll find out Tuesday when deliberations continue…
[Image via The Wendy Williams Show/YouTube.]
The post Diddy Jury Is OUT OF CONTROL! A ‘Stealth Juror’?! Why This Is Sounding Really Good For One Side… appeared first on Perez Hilton.