A jury was selected Monday to hear the evidence against Sean Combs.
The 12-person jury is comprised of eight men and four women.
The defense accused federal prosecutors of bias because most of the government’s nine peremptory strikes were Black prospective jurors.
“By our count, the government struck seven Black people, which, it’s our belief, amounts to a pattern,” defense attorney Marc Agnifilo said.
“The government has conducted itself completely neutrally during jury selection,” prosecutor Maureen Comey responded. “The jury itself is composed of a very diverse group of jurors.”
Comey then listed “neutral” reasons for exercising each peremptory strike, including a woman who recognized 17 names on the list of people who could potentially come up at trial, and a man who she said gave “meandering, nonsensical answers” and once called police officers “a*******.”
The judge rejected the defense’s challenge.
“The government has given race-neutral reasons,” Judge Arun Subramanian said.
Combs argued earlier this year that the prostitution charge he faces should be tossed because, he claimed, federal prosecutors demonstrated racial animus. Federal prosecutors denounced the argument as baseless.
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