Jury Reaches Partial Verdict in Diddy Trial

Jurors at the trial against Sean “Diddy” Combs’ reached a partial verdict Tuesday — but won’t be allowed to deliver their decision yet.

The panel of eight men and four women was ordered to keep deliberating by Manhattan federal court Judge Arun Subramanian after reporting it had reached a verdict on four out of five counts — but couldn’t agree on the top charge of racketeering conspiracy.

The announcement came after just some 12 hours of deliberations, which will continue on Wednesday.

“We have reached a verdict on counts 2, 3, 4 and 5,” the jury’s note said — referring to two sex-trafficking charges and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.

“We have not reached a verdict on count 1 because we have unpersuadable jurors on both sides,” the note continued, referring to the charge that falls under Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations or RICO, usually used to prosecute the mob and drug cartels.

The Bad Boy Records founder is accused of leading a criminal enterprise for two decades that allegedly plotted to commit arson, kidnapping, sex-trafficking and other offenses.

Combs, who has pleaded not guilty, appeared forlorn after seven lawyers huddled around him before the note was read out to the courtroom.

Both prosecutors and Combs’ lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, told the judge they didn’t want him to accept a partial verdict.

“It’s our request that you tell the jury to keep deliberating, and don’t take the partial verdict,” Agnifilo urged the judge.

Subramanian agreed not to force the jurors to deliver their partial verdict, instead telling them: “I ask at this time that you keep deliberating.”

The jury started deliberating on Monday, and almost immediatley sent out a note saying they were concerned that one of the members, a foreign born Manhattanite, couldn’t follow the judge’s instructions.

On Tuesday, the jury asked for portions of Combs’ ex-partner Cassie Ventura’s testimony to be provided to them, including her recounting the infamous caught-on-camera assault by the music mogul in a Los Angeles hotel in 2016.

Other portions of Ventura’s testimony the jurors requested included her recalling a 2013 incident where Combs accused her of taking drugs and booted her from a yacht at the Cannes Film Festival, and later threatening to release videos of her having sex with male escorts during “freak-offs.”

The case largely centers around the testimony of Ventura, who claimed Combs repeatedly beat her up and forced her to partake in “freak-offs” — days-long sex-sessions with male prostitutes that he recorded.

Another of Combs’ former gal pals, “Jane,” testified anonymously that she was also forced into the degrading sex-marathons and that he threatened to stop supporting her financially if she didn’t keep participating in the frequent romps.

A conviction on the racketeering count requires the jury to find that Combs carried out at least two underlying crimes with the help of his employees and others in his inner circle.

Jurors can pick any two underlying offenses including, arson, bribery, witness tampering, kidnapping, sex-trafficking, forced labor and drugs and prostitution related crimes.

The defense showed jurors hundreds of messages the two women sent to Combs, with some showing their love and devotion to him and others appearing to show their eagerness to take part in more of the “freak-offs.”

But prosecutors argued the frequent physical abuse by Combs, coupled with his threats to release videos of the “freak-offs” and to stop paying the rent on Ventura and Jane’s homes, showed a pattern of coercion.

Over the course of seven weeks of testimony, the jury heard from a total of 34 witnesses including some of the male escorts paid by Combs for the “freak-offs.”

Combs, 55, has been locked up since his September arrest and he faces up to life in prison if convicted on the sex-trafficking or RICO charges.

Defense attorney and former prosecutor Neama Rahmani said it’s “impossible” to know for sure what the juror’s partial verdict is, but he guessed they decided to convict Combs on the prostitution charges and acquit him on the sex-trafficking charges.

Rahmani said the sex-trafficking charges are the hardest to prove in the case because “consent is a defense” and Ventura’s messages appear to show she “wanted” to participate in “freak-offs.

“Rahmani said racketeering is an easier charge to prove than sex-trafficking because even if jurors think the sex was consensual there are still plenty of other underlying crimes they could find Combs committed to secure a guilty verdict on that count.

“A fast verdict is usually a bad sign for the prosecution on the most serious and difficult to prove charges in a case like this,” Rahmani said. “And racketeering is easier to prove than sex trafficking because you can prove racketeering even if the sex was consensual.”