By
Harriet Ryan
Court TV
NEW YORK — As the first four jurors were seated in Sean "Puffy" Combs' bribery and weapons possession trial, his defense angrily accused the prosecution of systematically excluding blacks and Hispanics from the jury.
"He's batting a thousand," Benjamin Brafman, one of Combs' lawyers, said ruefully after prosecutor Matthew Bogdanos removed five blacks and four Hispanics from a panel of 18 prospective jurors. "There've been nine challenges by the prosecution and there's not a white face among them."
Bogdanos denied the charges repeatedly, but Combs' team pressed on. During one defense tirade on racism that included references to Rosa Parks and the Roman emperor Hadrian, Bogdanos slouched in his chair and banged a thick law manual against his head.
"They can say it as many times as they want, but their saying it doesn't make it so," the prosecutor told state Supreme Court Judge Charles Solomon, hastening to point out that two of four panelists seated Wednesday were black men.
Combs, the CEO of Bad Boy Entertainment, faces 15 years in prison if convicted of criminal possession of a weapon and bribing a witness. The charges against him and co-defendants Anthony "Wolf" Jones and Jamal "Shyne" Barrow, stem from a Dec. 27, 1999 shooting at Club New York, a Manhattan disco. Combs was there with actress/singer Jennifer Lopez, when a fight broke out.
Barrow, an up-and-coming rapper, is accused of shooting three bystanders. He faces attempted murder charges. Prosecutors say Combs brandished a semi-automatic handgun during the brawl and then, along with Jones, tried to bribe his chauffeur into taking the wrap.
Solomon rejected the defense arguments of bias after the prosecutor ticked off "race-neutral" reasons for challenging minority panelists. He claimed he nixed two women, a black school guidance counselor and a Hispanic substance abuse counselor, because in his experience, their occupations made them sympathetic to the defense. Two other black women, he said, were excused because he feared their jobs as medical technicians might make them hostile to testimony from doctors.
Those who made the cut Wednesday were:
A white, middle-aged woman who retired as a personal assistant at a printing company.
An young, white man who works as a paralegal at a corporate law firm.
A black man in his 30s who works as a corrections officer at a federal prison in Brooklyn.
An older, black man who collects commercial taxes for New York City.
As the often tedious process of picking a jury entered its second week Wednesday, Combs continued to pay close attention. He read index cards describing each juror as his attorneys, Brafman and Johnnie Cochran, questioned them.
The New York Daily News reported Wednesday that Lopez had broken off her relationship with Combs, but the rap mogul showed no emotion when a pair of jurors admitted seeing the headline, "Jennifer Dumps Puffy." (Combs and Lopez's representatives later issued a joint denial of the breakup.)
Lopez was the most prominent name on a list of more than 500 potential witnesses distributed to the jury pool. Among others on the state's five-page list was rapper Derek "D-Dot" Angelettie, who is producing Barrows new album; Voletta Wallace, mother of Combs' friend, slain rap star Christopher "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace; Steven Stout, a music producer Combs was accused of assaulting; and Michael Bergos, the owner of Club New York.
Jury selection is scheduled to continue Thursday with opening statements slated for Monday.
|
