Judge Removes Juror in Sean Combs Trial Over Shaky Story

A juror in the federal trial of Sean Combs was dismissed on Monday after giving inconsistent information about where he lives—raising concerns that he may have intentionally tried to stay on the high-profile jury, according to The New York Times.

During jury selection, the man—an accountant for the New York Department of Corrections—said he lived in the Bronx with his fiancée. But last week, he casually told a court staff member that he had recently moved to New Jersey to live with his girlfriend. Prosecutors flagged the discrepancy, calling it a troubling “lack of candor.”

Judge Arun Subramanian questioned the juror privately and said the confusion only deepened. He concluded the man may have “shaded answers” in order to be selected and remain on the jury.

“There’s nothing that the juror could say at this point that would put the genie back in the bottle,” the judge said Monday.

According to the report, Combs’s defense team strongly opposed the removal. They noted the dismissed juror is Black, and his replacement is a white man. While they acknowledged the jury overall is diverse, the defense argued the move could unfairly affect Combs’s case. Last week, one of Combs’s lawyers described the government's challenge as a “thinly veiled effort to dismiss a Black juror.”

Judge Subramanian firmly rejected the claim. “To be perfectly clear, from the outset of this proceeding to the current date, there has been no evidence and no showing of any kind of any biased conduct or biased manner of proceeding from the government,” he said.

Combs is facing federal charges of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy in Lower Manhattan’s Federal District Court. He has pleaded not guilty, and his attorneys maintain the case is based on consensual relationships with long-term partners.

Now entering its sixth week, the trial continues with a newly seated alternate juror and heightened attention on the proceedings.ht the accusations. He’s pleaded not guilty and says the case is based on consensual relationships with long-term partners.

The trial is now heading into its sixth week, and with one juror out and another in, the courtroom drama shows no sign of slowing down.