Oof. Here we go again. Diddy‘s sex trafficking trial is well underway — but even in these late stages there are surprises.
On Monday US District Judge Arun Subramanian made the tough call to dismiss one of the jurors. The prosecution had requested the move last week, accusing Juror #6 of “a lack of candor.” After reviewing his statements, the judge agreed on Friday that the juror had given inconsistent answers in his questionnaire about his residency. One has to be a resident of the Southern District of New York to be on this trial, and it’s not clear where the juror actually lives after giving conflicting answers.
Ultimately Subramanian had no choice but to dismiss the juror, citing concerns over “whether he shaded answers to get on and stay on the panel,” per People. There’s nothing a court fears more than someone who actually wants to be on a jury. (But try to talk your way out of it, watch how much harder they want you!)
Related: Kanye Showed Up To Trial After Talk Of Unnamed Rapper Having His Own ‘Freak Offs’!
The issue raised by the defense? The juror who was kicked off was a Black man from the Bronx. Well, maybe from the Bronx — that’s the problem. But definitely Black. And he’s being replaced by a 57-year-old white architect from Westchester County.
So Diddy’s legal team accused the government of racism. In their argument last week they called the move a “thinly veiled effort to dismiss a Black juror.” They said the jury will be less diverse now, which seems inherently true from the change — though the identities of the jurors are NOT public information. We just know them by their numbers. All we know is that there were eight men and four women chosen, and the alternates were four men and two women.
Wow, twice as many men as women. On a trial that’s become largely about domestic abuse and sexual coercion. Bet the defense wasn’t complaining about that.
On a related note — there are hints ANOTHER juror could be on his way out! Sources told TMZ on Monday that a juror got a text asking him if he was “Juror #6” — the one that got kicked off. (He wasn’t, he’s a different one.) The text was shared with the judge right away on Friday, but it’s the implications of it that are problematic. Remember, the identities of these jurors are not public, so no one should know this guy is one. They certainly shouldn’t be contacting him about it.
Judge Subramanian asked a lot of questions about the text and how anyone could possibly have known. Per insiders, His Honor is worried the guy might have been running his mouth about the trial — a big no-no — and that’s how it eventually got to someone willing to cold text him. Like, say, a member of the press? Or even more inappropriately, someone involved in the case? Yeesh!
The judge said he would decide what to do about this juror at end of day Monday. So something else to keep an eye on. This trial is cray…
[Image via Ivan Nikolov/WENN.]
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