Jury to keep deliberating after deadlocking on most serious charge

Sakshi Venkatraman and Madeline HalpertBBC NewsReporting fromCourthouse in New York Watch: BBC reporter inside court docket as Diddy jury reaches partial verdictThe jury within the trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs will preserve deliberating after reaching a partial verdict, however deadlocking on probably the most critical cost confronted by the hip-hop mogul. On the federal court docket in New York, the 12 jurors introduced they’d agreed on 4 of the 5 counts, however have been unable to resolve on the racketeering cost, which carries a doable life jail time period. The ambiance was tense because the rapper sat with head bowed, palms folded in his lap. His attorneys sometimes put their arms round him. Deliberations will resume on Wednesday morning.Mr Combs, 55, has pleaded not responsible to all 5 fees, together with intercourse trafficking, racketeering and transportation to interact in prostitution.Over the previous two months, the jury has heard from 34 witnesses, together with ex-girlfriends, former workers of Mr Combs, male escorts and federal brokers.At round 16:30 EDT on Tuesday (20:30 GMT), the jury introduced they’d reached a verdict on 4 of the 5 counts, after two days of deliberations. The panel stated they could not come to an settlement on the racketeering cost as a result of jurors on either side have opinions which can be unmovable.Choose Arun Subramanian heard arguments from each the prosecution and the rapper’s defence attorneys on how you can proceed, earlier than urging the jurors to maintain attempting to come back to a unanimous resolution. Their verdicts on the opposite 4 counts weren’t disclosed. The prosecution urged the choose to make use of an Allen cost, which is a set of directions given to a hung jury to press its members to achieve a unanimous resolution.Allen fees are controversial, as some imagine they will put undue strain on juries, forcing them to alter their stances or cave to see strain – particularly when their opinion is within the minority.The jury will return on Wednesday, and will probably proceed deliberating on 3 July – when the court docket is often closed forward of the 4 July public vacation. Watch: The BBC’s Nomia Iqbal explains racketeering as jurors divided on chargeThe panel’s unanimous resolution on many of the counts after lower than two days of deliberations may very well be a superb signal for prosecutors, Robert Mintz, a felony defence lawyer and former federal prosecutor informed the BBC.However to achieve a conviction on the racketeering cost, prosecutors wanted to show that Mr Combs established a felony enterprise – a co-ordinated plan between the musician and at the least one different individual to commit at the least two crimes over a span of a number of years.”That was all the time going to be probably the most difficult cost for prosecutors to get a conviction on,” Mr Mintz stated. “It is a very sophisticated cost, used usually previously in organised crime prosecution and so it isn’t shocking that that’s the one cost giving the jury probably the most issue.”The defendant has additionally passed by the names Puffy, Puff Daddy, P Diddy, Love and Brother Love. He used his stature within the business to discovered his profitable Sean John clothes line and starred in a number of actuality TV reveals, together with one the place contestants competed to change into a part of his band.In 2023, he launched his fifth file The Love Album: Off The Grid and earned his first solo nomination on the Grammy awards. He additionally was named a International Icon on the MTV Awards.