Judge Arun Subramanian, who is overseeing the federal criminal trial against hip-hop tycoon Sean Combs, has dismissed one of the jurors who has been hearing the case and replaced him with an alternate juror.
The original juror, known as Juror No. 6, has given inconsistent answers about his place of residence. When he was seated on the jury, he said that he lived in The Bronx, a borough of New York City and an area within the bounds of the Southern District of New York, with his fiancée. Last week, however, the juror told a court staff member that he recently moved in with his girlfriend in New Jersey, which is outside the jurisdiction of SDNY. Prosecutors expressed concerns that the man was not being candid.
Subramanian dismissed Juror No. 6 as court concluded on Friday afternoon; on Monday, the judge upheld that decision.
The original juror, a man of color, will be replaced with an alternate juror who is a white man. The defense team had vigorously argued to allow Juror No. 6 to stay, saying that replacing him would pose an unfair disadvantage to Combs as a Black defendant.
In his ruling Monday, Subramanian said that he took the defense's argument seriously, but ultimately that his concerns about the juror's "candor and whether he shaded answers to get on and stay on the panel" of such a high-profile case prevailed.
Prosecutors have also repeatedly raised concerns that they have observed Combs nodding at jurors, visibly reacting to testimony and otherwise trying to engage with the jury as federal witnesses have testified against him. Earlier in the trial, Subramanian admonished Combs and told the defense team that their client needed to stop such behavior, saying that it was "absolutely unacceptable." The judge added that Combs would be barred from the courtroom if he continued. Last Friday, the prosecution raised the issue again. Subramanian said while it was impossible to police every reaction in the courtroom, Combs had previously been warned and should know how to behave.
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