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- [00:02]
Marjorie Hernandez
Seriously popular.
- [00:04]
Renato Stabile
The following episode explores a number of allegations regarding the artist Diddy. He denies all charges and has pled not guilty to sex trafficking, racketeering, and transportation to engage in prostitution. The biggest secret in the entertainment industry that really wasn't a secret at all has finally been revealed to the world.
- [00:26]
Marjorie Hernandez
At the height of his career, Sean Diddy Combs had it all. It seemed like everything Diddy touched turned to gold. Now the once untouchable hip hop mogul is fighting for his life as he faces multiple federal charges in New York, including sex trafficking and allegedly running a criminal enterprise.
- [00:46]
Kayla Brantley
Music mogul and rapper Sean Diddy Combs has faced four different lawsuits in recent weeks alleging sexual assault. Combs can be seen grabbing Ventura and.
- [00:55]
Renato Stabile
Throwing her to the ground.
- [00:56]
Marjorie Hernandez
Oh, this guy is dangerous. Woman has now come forward.
- [01:00]
Renato Stabile
A legend comes of sexual assault. She was drugged and sexually assaulted by Combs.
- [01:05]
Marjorie Hernandez
I'm DailyMail.com journalist Marjorie Hernandez, and over the last six months, I've been investigating this incredible story and speaking to the people in the eye of the storm. Welcome to the trial of Diddy.
- [01:24]
Kayla Brantley
Hey, I'm Kayla Brantley, reporter at large for Daily Mail in Manhattan.
- [01:28]
Marjorie Hernandez
And I'm Marjorie Hernandez, DailyMail.com's West coast news editor.
- [01:32]
Kayla Brantley
And welcome to episode 30 of the trial of Diddy. And it's been another interesting week for Sean Combs with another win to put on the board.
- [01:41]
Marjorie Hernandez
That's right, Kayla. One of the many sexual assault lawsuits filed against Diddy was dismissed on Monday, March 31. Jane Doe had claimed Diddy attempted to sexually assault her while at a party in New York in 1995. She also alleged that Diddy hit her when she refused his advances. Her attorney, Tony Busby, filed her suit back in October 2024. Then in January this year, Busby filed a motion for Doe to proceed anonymously.
- [02:09]
Kayla Brantley
Now, the court denied that motion at the time, stating that the, quote, gravity of the charges combined with no evidence of specific and concrete harm undermined her claim to proceed anonymously. The court ordered Doe to file a complaint under her own name by March 20th. But that didn't happen. So the judge dismissed the case, and Doe chose not to pursue the case further. In a statement released to Variety, Busby said that Doe did not feel comfortable revealing her identity and ultimately decided to drop the allegations. Quote, in this particular case, Jane Doe opted not to proceed. He said, there is a lot of fear amongst these plaintiffs. I thus can't blame her. These are tough cases and they are many times re traumatizing for those who pursue them. Each case stands on its own merit. The this woman chose not to proceed and subject herself to the media circus and the perceived danger she felt. We have to respect that, he said.
- [03:02]
Marjorie Hernandez
Diddy's legal team asserted to the Daily Mail that this dismissal is what they see as a sign of what's to come with other pending cases. Their statement reads, quote, today a federal judge dismissed a Lawsuit filed against Mr. Combs by Texas attorney Tony Busby and his local counsel, Antigone Curis, on behalf of an anonymized plaintiff. This is now the second case brought by these attorneys against Mr. Combs that has been dismissed in its entirety. It will not be the last. For months, we have seen case after case filed by individuals hiding behind anonymity, pushed forward by attorneys more focused on media headlines than legal merit. The other claims, like one dismissed today, also will not hold up in a court of law.
- [03:48]
Kayla Brantley
And it's always important to say that Diddy has vehemently denied all allegations made in all recent lawsuits filed against him. And he's also denied all federal charges filed against him last year. Like everyone else in the legal system, he remains innocent until proven guilty.
- [04:03]
Marjorie Hernandez
And as we record this on Wednesday, it's 40 days until the trial itself begins, but only 33 days until May 5 when jury selection starts. So what better time could there be to welcome this week's guest, New York based jury consultant and lawyer Renato Stabile.
- [04:21]
Renato Stabile
Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.
- [04:23]
Marjorie Hernandez
Well, obviously we are anxiously waiting for this trial to start and your company does jury consulting and I was hoping that you can break that down for us. What do you and your partners do in helping someone like Diddy prepare for a huge trial like this?
- [04:40]
Renato Stabile
Yeah. So look, I, I've had, obviously I have no involvement in this case, but typ in a ultra high profile trial like this, I expect that maybe they've already done some jury testing. In other words, they've done some focus groups, they've done some survey work to try and figure out the profile of who's going to make a good juror, but really more importantly, who's going to make a bad juror. Because it's not jury selection, it's jury deselection. You can't pick anyone in jury selection. You can only get rid of. And you get rid of people in two ways. Cause challenges, people that have a bias, people who say they can't be fair, they get struck for cause. You have an unlimited number of those. But then you also have what's called peremptory challenges, which means you can Strike people just because you don't like the way they look or you don't like the way they answer their question, Even if they say they can be fair and impartial. Now there are limits to that. You can't strike people based on race, you can't strike people based on gender. Of course you can't do things like that. But if you just don't like the way somebody's dressed, you can strike them for that reason. That, that's, that's a valid reason. So I think, I predict that the trial team has done some research to figure out and go in with a game plan so they know really who they're striking. Don't fall in love with any jurors because you have no control.
- [06:05]
Kayla Brantley
And you did mention having a good juror and a badger in this case with Diddy. What makes a good juror and what makes a bad juror?
- [06:13]
Renato Stabile
Yeah, I mean that, that's a super tough question. Usually we let the research dictate what that is. But just based on my experience, I think in a case like this, my understanding is the defense is going to be consent, right? So they're not going to say, the defense isn't going to say, and Diddy isn't going to say they, that these things didn't happen, that these freak offs didn't happen. But the defense is going to be, these were consenting adults. Everybody knew what they were getting into. And so I'm going to want jurors who are going to be analytical. I want jurors who are going to hold people personally responsible, hold adults personally responsible for things that they do and see the world as black and white. So I want people who are going to be like architects or engineers or maybe people in finance, people who are very black and white thinkers who are gonna not agree that people can be, you know, manipulated or psychologically influenced are going to say, no, look, you went there, you knew what was going on. You, you walked into a hotel room presumably and there were lights and there were cameras and there was whatever was on the table and what did you think was happening? And people who are going to say at that point, you could have turned around if you didn't want to be there, walk out the door. So those are the people I want. The people who I don't want are the people who are going to be more empathetic, more understanding of psychological control and how that works and how people can kind of walk into a situation and not really be sure they want to be there or not be there. But then there's psychological pressure put on them. Now, I know some of the allegations are the people were drugged also. So you know that that might be a different story. But I think the black and white thinkers are going to say, well, you know, you took the drugs. If they weren't, if it wasn't snuck into a drink, I mean, we'll see what the evidence is. But that's how I think I would go about this. But again, you're guided by what the research tells you.
- [08:07]
Marjorie Hernandez
So what kind of questions would you ask these potential jurors on this guest jury questionnaire?
- [08:12]
Renato Stabile
So look, this case, in most high profile cases like this, you are going to get so much more information about these people than you typically do. So just to break it down for you, in a typical federal criminal case, jury selection is one day. Everything you're going to learn, you learn in one day, maybe two days. This case is very, very different. And most high profile cases like this are very different because everybody knows Diddy, most of the people will have heard about this case. And so the judge is giving them two weeks to pick this jury. And there's going to be a lengthy written questionnaire given out. We haven't seen the questionnaire because I looked at the docket. They have until April 11th to submit a joint questionnaire. So we're going to see that, you know, just a few days from now, and then we'll be able to see what the questions are going to be. As a jury consultant, I love a written questionnaire. You don't get it all the time. You do get it in these high profile cases, but I love it because people are more honest. So you're going to get, I think, a lot of honest answers in the written questionnaire and you're going to have at least a week to go over those. And what's going to be happening in that week is that the lawyers probably on both sides are going to be investigating the potential jurors.
- [09:32]
Marjorie Hernandez
They do their own background checks on these potential jurors.
- [09:36]
Renato Stabile
You have to. It's really, I mean, my view is it's malpractice if you don't do it. Because you have to know what these folks are posting on social media. Maybe they've already posted about this case. Maybe they've posted about other high profile criminal cases and express their opinion.
- [09:52]
Marjorie Hernandez
Right. I was wondering about that. How deep do these investigations go into the potential jurors? Is it just merely the social media post or do they check, oh, he's related to this person or this person has an NYPD connection or it's everything.
- [10:08]
Renato Stabile
That you can do legally. So, I mean, nobody's. Nobody's gonna set up a dummy profile and friend people on Facebook or Instagram or anything like that. Nobody does that. But whatever is out there publicly, you're going to look at. I mean, there are all kinds of tools that you can use to scrape people's current social media to get their prior social media stuff that used to be on the Internet that now may have been taken down. You want to look at their work history, their LinkedIn. You want to look to see if they have any financial issues. So you'll see tax liens, licenses, you can see voter registration. I don't know how prominently that will feature in a case like this. Things will break down over party lines. You know, Democrat, Republican, ultra liberal, ultra conservative. But those are things that you're looking for. You know, have they donated to political candidates? That's all publicly available. Have they donated to PACs? All publicly available. So those are all of the things that you're going to be looking for to put together. And it's incredible because they're going to be hundreds of jurors here, but you're going to put together a mini dossier on every single person.
- [11:14]
Marjorie Hernandez
Wow.
- [11:14]
Renato Stabile
And you're going to rank them. Do you want this person? Do you not want this person? And of course, there are some people who are going to write in their questionnaire, he's guilty for sure. That's going to happen. And, you know, they'll be struck for cause.
- [11:26]
Marjorie Hernandez
There's obviously some folks who might not want to be on a jury, but there could be, because of this high profile case, would want to be on the case because of the celebrity factor of it. And I was wondering, how do you parse those people out?
- [11:41]
Renato Stabile
We call them stealth jurors. It is very, very tricky to figure out who is giving you honest answers and who is giving you answers that they think will get them onto the jury. Because it's not just that it's high profile and Diddy's going to be in the room. And, you know, people want proximity to celebrities. And. And you know, by the way, interestingly, that's going to be part of the defense, Right? Part of the defense is that people went along with these things. You can agree or disagree, but they're going to say people went along with these things because of they wanted proximity to him, they want proximity to maybe other celebrities, maybe they were getting paid. People do like to be around celebrities. And it doesn't end when you get into a courtroom. So, for sure, I think there are people who are going to try and give the right answers to get onto the jury. A, because it's just really interesting. But B, you know, maybe people want to write a book, maybe people want to go on TV afterwards and talk about their experiences.
- [12:44]
Kayla Brantley
But lying on a jury questionnaire, is that not, you know, against the law?
- [12:50]
Renato Stabile
Of course. Of course. You get sworn in and you're told by the judge that you have to give honest answers, and you actually stand up and take an oath as a juror in court to give honest answers. And so, you know, I'll give you an example. This happened in the Glenn Maxwell case. In one of the jurors forgot that he had been the victim of some sort of sexual assault. And the question was asked on the questionnaire and he answered no or left it blank. And, you know, there was a whole big issue after that case about, you know, did he lie or did he forget? And the judge held a hearing, and the judge made a credibility finding that he forgot and so decided that he didn't do anything deceptive. But that's another reason why you have to look at people's social media to make sure that, you know, they're not coming into court and telling you, yeah, I can. I can totally be fair and impartial to Mr. Combs. And yet, you know, you'll see on their social media, they're posting articles or saying, this guy is so guilty or something like that.
- [13:49]
Kayla Brantley
I mean, at that point, especially in the case with Ghislaine Maxwell, that almost, you know, put the whole case into jeopardy.
- [13:55]
Renato Stabile
Yeah, nobody wants it. I mean, the defense certainly doesn't want it, but the prosecutors don't want it either. They don't want people lying to get on the jury, even if. Even if it helps them, even if there's going to be a conviction, they don't need that because they don't want to do it all over again. So it's really in everybody's interest that everybody gets a fair opportunity to ask whatever questions they want to ask, look over the questionnaires, and do whatever background research they're going to do so that this doesn't come up after the fact and really upend for the prosecution side, upend a conviction. And look, the defense, they want him to get acquitted, and they want him to get a fair shot here. So nobody wants it.
- [14:35]
Kayla Brantley
Yeah. And this case is taking place in New York. Diddy is from New York. It feels almost impossible that you're going to find somebody who's never heard of Diddy or never heard of what's happening to him. How, how difficult is that going to be? I mean, are they looking for somebody who's never hear of Diddy? Are they looking for somebody who's maybe kind of a fan but doesn't really care?
- [14:56]
Renato Stabile
You know, I, I don't know that his celebrity is going to help him a lot here. I do think celebrity helps in, in some cases, but not necessarily here. You know, it's funny, he's kind of a, he's a Gen X artist, right. I don't know how popular or known he is with the younger generation. So you could see this thing break out across generational lines. If I were picking this jury, I would probably skew younger in terms of the demographic I'm looking for. And not because of familiarity or unfamiliarity with Diddy, but because I think younger people might be more receptive to the fact that people consensually went along with a lot of these things because they wanted to be famous or because he promised them something or he would help them with their career. Now, you don't have to agree with that. And you can say that's manipulative, but the defense is going to say, okay, but that's not a crime. Right. You don't have to like what he did. You don't have to condone it. You don't have to condone these freak offs or whatever was going on. But nobody was forced. Right. They have to show force, coercion, duress, all of those things. And the defense is going to be people did this willingly. And so maybe younger jurors are going to be more receptive that people will do like almost anything to be close to a celebrity or to become famous themselves.
- [16:20]
Marjorie Hernandez
How about in terms of gender? In, in a case like this, he is facing three charges. Racketeering, sex trafficking, and interstate commerce or prostitution. Will potential jurors, genders also factor in?
- [16:35]
Renato Stabile
Yeah, gender is always an interesting issue. In any sort of sexual assault case where the defense is consent, jurors are going to have to accept that the alleged victims did these things voluntarily and of their own free will. And depending on the circumstances, what I found is that sometimes it's counterintuitive. You think female jurors would side with female victims. But in consent cases, female jurors can sometimes judge very harshly. If the defense is arguing they voluntarily went into these situations, female jurors might judge these women harshly and say, you didn't know what was going to go down in that hotel room, you didn't know what was going to happen at this party, or at least maybe you didn't know before you got there, but at some point you knew what was going on. And I would have just gotten up and walked out. And I think that's going to be a big part of the defense. Male jurors might feel more protective of these alleged victims. They'll, you know, view it differently and, and feel like they're protecting them in returning a guilty verdict. Whereas female jurors might be, you know, might have set a lot, a much higher bar in terms of what they're willing to believe.
- [17:49]
Marjorie Hernandez
Nada. You mentioned testing during the background research on potential jurors, but actual mock trial, does that happen as well? And in a big case like that, is that something you think Diddy's team is looking into?
- [18:01]
Renato Stabile
For sure they did it already because the trial is going to start. I mean, they're going to start jury selection in just a few weeks. And I think they're filing. Both sides are filing pretrial motions today. So watch the docket because the pre trial motions that they file are going to give you a lot of insight into the evidence you should expect to see in the case. One thing that is always a consideration in a very high profile case like this is that if you bring mock jurors in to test this case, you know, you get them to sign confidentiality agreements and of course you pay them. You try and control it as tightly as you can. But you do have to be concerned about leaks sometimes. Not in the usual, in the ultra high profile. And I would consider this as high profile as it gets.
- [18:44]
Marjorie Hernandez
I found it interesting because TMZ actually did their own mock jury. It was very interesting because they actually had an issue with the racketeering charge because they were thinking about how would did he have profited from this crime. And I was just wondering if you are in Diddy's team or really the prosecution's team also, would that be something that we could somehow prepare for when picking a juror?
- [19:10]
Renato Stabile
Yeah, that seems like it's a bit of an overreach to charge this as a racketeering case. And I'm sure that they got feedback from some jurors that, you know, that seem to be a little bit too aggressive because racketeering is usually reserved for the mafia, gangs or whatever, stuff like that, real criminal organizations. I don't think anybody considers his record label a criminal organization per se. So I think that could be an overreach. But look, I Think the problem in this case is that you might be able to successfully defend against one or two of the alleged victims. But I think the volume of evidence here, from what I've seen in the indictment and what I expect is, is going to be really tough to say that everybody consented, nobody was forced, or everybody's lying, and everybody's just trying to make a buck here, and everybody has civil lawsuits, and they're just trying to get back at him because he maybe promised them help in their careers and he didn't follow through. To say that over and over and over again is going to be challenging.
- [20:17]
Marjorie Hernandez
What they do have, the prosecution has, is that tape of Cassie that went viral. Can you talk a little bit about how that could factor into this case?
- [20:27]
Renato Stabile
Yeah, I mean, everybody. You know, I'm sure a lot of people have seen that, and I think he's already apologized for that. So they're really going to own that. There's really no excuse for that. But they're going to say, you know, that one episode doesn't make him a racketeer. And they're going to ask this in Boy Deer for sure. In jury selection, they're going to say, look, even if you saw that video, do you still think you can evaluate the evidence fairly, or did seeing that video give you such bad feelings about him that you. You think you're just going to be thinking about that video the whole time and you're not going to be able to put it out of your mind, and you're already so turned off to him that you're not going to be able to sit and. And judge him fairly. And some people are going to say, yeah, some people. Look, there are some people that want no part of this. Right. I talked about stealth jars, but I think a lot of people are going to be running for the exits because some people don't really want to hear about all this. This. And if they saw that video, they don't want to see more videos like this. Like, they. People just don't need this in their lives. So you're going to have a lot of people who are going to want to get out. And so they'll say, yeah, I saw that video. And, you know, after I saw that video, I never could look at him the same way again. So they'll definitely be leaving. And also, keep in mind, this trial is probably going to go on for a long time. I don't know what the estimated length is, but certainly several weeks. People have lives. People have, you know, jobs. If they get paid Hourly. And if they have child care issues, if they have adult care issues, you know, whatever it is. So I think that's why not. I think I know that's why the court is summoning so many jurors, because it expects to lose a lot of people to what we call hardship.
- [22:02]
Kayla Brantley
There's so much more coming up, but for now, let's pause for a break. Welcome back to the trial of Diddy. We're still here with Renato Stabile.
- [22:25]
Marjorie Hernandez
Yeah, you talked a little bit about that, touched on it a little bit earlier. But can you talk about the process of our deer?
- [22:31]
Renato Stabile
So what's going to happen is the last week in April, they're going to have jurors come to the courthouse and fill out written questionnaires. That process is going to take two or three days for enough jurors to fill out those questionnaires. So I expect the questionnaire will be probably 25 to 30 pages of questions. And it's going to ask, first and foremost, it's going to ask about hardship. So it's going to say ask things like, first, do you understand English? Because not everybody does. Will you be able to follow the evidence in this trial? Are there any appointments that you have coming up that you can't move? Those people will be excused. Then it's going to ask about financial hardships. If you are an hourly worker or you're self employed and sitting there for three weeks is going to make you not be able to pay your rent. The court isn't going to force you to sit there if those are your personal circumstances or if you have child care issues or if you have a sick relative at home, the court's not going to make those people stay there. The second batch of questions are going to be questions about following the law. There'll probably be a statement. A criminal defendant has a constitutional right not to testify at a criminal trial. Do you have any issues with that? Would you have a problem finding somebody not guilty if they didn't testify on their own behalf? Do you agree that a defendant doesn't have to prove anything, that the prosecution has to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt and the defense could literally sit there and do nothing? And if the government doesn't prove their case, you have to find him not guilty. Are you able to do that? So there'll be a lot of those types of legal questions. Then there'll be a set of questions about, have you ever been a victim? Have you ever been accused of anything? Have you ever been a witness? What experience do you have with the legal system, with the criminal justice system. Then there'll be a set of questions about relationships or feelings about the prosecution or defense. Do you have a law enforcement background? Does anybody in your family have a law enforcement background? Is anybody in your family a criminal defense attorney? Do you know any of these people? And all of the lawyers names and the prosecutors and the judge, everybody's name will be there. Do you know any of these people? Would you be able to evaluate the testimony of law enforcement witnesses the same as anybody else? Or would you tend to believe law enforcement witnesses more than anybody else? Or all of those questions are going to be in there. Then there's going to be a section about knowledge about the case. Now this is where I expect almost everyone has heard about the case and has heard about him. But that's not, that's not disqualifying. The question is, okay, even if you've heard about the case and even if you've had heard about him, can you keep an open mind? Can you be fair and impartial? Have you formed any opinions about the case? Have you posted about the case? I think that'll be asked in the questionnaire directly. So that'll be really interesting to see how people answer that. And then after all of that, those are sort of the qualifying questions that the lawyers will get to look at and decide, is there anything we see that automatically disqualifies this juror. And so they'll come up with a list. The prosecution and the defense will meet and the defense will say, this is our list of people we think should go for cause. The prosecution will give their list of people who should go for cause. And wherever they agree, those people are going to get dismissed. But in addition to that, the prosecution may have a list of people that the defense doesn't agree with. And the defense will have a list of people that the prosecution doesn't agree with. And then they will have to go back to court. And each side will make arguments about why a particular juror should go or stay. The judge may get rid of some of those people, some of the prosecution strikes, some of the defense strikes, but probably not all of them. And so they'll be marked for follow up. Then there'll be a process where the jurors who survive the cause challenges made by the parties are brought back to court. And then they will be asked a few different things. Number one, they will be asked certain follow up questions based on their answers in the questionnaires. But then there'll be actual voir dire where they're asked just background questions. Very often you do this live because the parties have to hear people speak. We all form opinions about people just based on how they speak, their affect. Do they sound intelligent? Do they sound reasonable? Do they sound like the kind of person I could go out and get a coffee with? All of those things. And also, you know, the defendant Diddy has a right to hear people speak and look them in the eye, and his life is on the line, and he has the right to be there and look at the people who are going to sit in judgment of him and make decisions for himself about how he feels about these people, or somebody giving him a really bad vibe, or does he not like the way somebody kind of stared him down? And so there has to be a process when these people are going to be brought back in. And they'll be asked questions like, you know, what do you do for work? What's your education? What neighborhood do you live in? Where did you grow up? What do the people in your household do? Like, what does your spouse or significant other do? If your children are adults, what do they do? Have you ever served on a jury before? They might ask them, what TV shows do you watch? Where do you get your news? Which will be very important, I think, especially for the defense, because they'll be. They'll be very in tune to which news outlets have been the most negative ditty about this case. Let's just say somebody mentions a news outlet and the defense knows, wow, they've really bashed him relentlessly. Then they know they have to watch out, because everything that that person has ingested about the case has been super negative. So where you get your news and what news you watch is going to be incredibly important. What websites you go to will be incredibly important. Where you get your social media. And then they might just ask some things like, you know, do you belong to any clubs or organizations? What are your hobbies? What do you like to do in your spare time? Questions like that. Just so the parties can get kind of a better understanding about these folks, so they can intelligently exercise their peremptory strikes. And then the very final part of the process is you exercise your strikes. Defense gets 10, prosecution gets six. You get one for every two alternates. So you're going to see 12 jurors, and then I don't know how many alternates there are going to be, but let's just say there were only two alternates. Each side would get a strike.
- [29:02]
Marjorie Hernandez
Wow. So this normally takes one or two days on a Normal trial. But do you think in two weeks the whole process can actually move forward and we'll have an actual jury?
- [29:13]
Renato Stabile
I think so. I mean, I think things, you know, the other thing about federal court that's very different from state court, in state court, the lawyers get to stand up and talk to the jurors and ask questions directly with very little input or interference from the judge. In federal court, it is totally different. The lawyers don't speak and the judge does all of the questioning. And occasionally the judge will allow the lawyers to ask a follow up question or they'll go to sidebar and they'll ask a follow up question. And I predict that there will be a lot of sidebars in this case where the jurors will be brought into a back room and questioned one by one. That's for a couple of reasons. One, you'll get more honest answers because the courtroom's going to be packed. That's also unusual in your typical criminal case. There's nobody there. There's nobody there watching. But in this case it's going to be packed. They're going to see the press outside when they show up for Georgia. Everybody's going to be hyper aware that everything they say is being highly scrutinized. So I think to make people feel more comfortable, I expect that the judge will take them up to the sidebar or take them one by one in the back. And at that point, the judge may allow some follow up questions directly from the lawyers or the lawyer says to the judge, can you ask this question? And then the judge decides whether or not he wants to ask the question.
- [30:37]
Kayla Brantley
And you said you expect this questionnaire to be about 20 to 30 pages of questions. Is that also typical or is that just because this is such a high profile case?
- [30:47]
Renato Stabile
Strictly because it's a high profile case. So first of all, you almost never get a written questionnaire in a federal criminal case. Almost never. But because this is so high profile and because they're bringing in so many jurors, in my experience and cases like this, you typically do see a written questionnaire. But I want. This whole process is unusual. This is not the typical process. This is special for these types of cases.
- [31:13]
Marjorie Hernandez
Now with the questionnaire or even maybe during Vadi, or would this come up in terms of the other cases involving Diddy? Obviously he's facing this criminal case, but there have been dozens and dozens of civil lawsuits filed against him. It's out there almost every day. There's a new one filed. And I was wondering how that plays into, you know, picking a jury.
- [31:35]
Renato Stabile
I think the defense is gonna presumably try and say that a lot of these witnesses who are coming in here saying that they've been victimized are really just looking for money. So although you, you might normally not want the jury to think about the civil cases, I think in this case, the defense is going to want them to think about it because they're going to take the position that this is all a shakedown.
- [31:57]
Kayla Brantley
Yeah. And at this point, we're about a month away from the start of the trial. Like you said, everything that's happening here is not normal. It's because it's such a high profile case. How would you be preparing for this?
- [32:10]
Renato Stabile
Look, Diddy is a celebrity, so he is accustomed to being in the public eye. He's accustomed to being in a room and being the center of attention. You know, that's just his life. So I think he's going to be perfectly comfortable in that position. I think the reminders I would give him is, you know, maintain your focus. The jurors are staring at you from the second they walk into the room. So any little thing you do could have an impact on them. If they don't think you're taking this case seriously, why should they take it seriously? And I know he is going to take it seriously, but, you know, in such a stressful situation that he's going to be in, you know, all kinds of things sort of take over, but. But he's accustomed to being stared at, let's say. So I think he's going to be. He's going to be okay with that.
- [33:00]
Kayla Brantley
Yeah. And I think it is just such like an incredible case and especially coming from the media standpoint, and every small detail will be picked apart. You know, if he smiles, that's going to be taken into account. If he is stone faced, that's going to be taken into account. What he wears, how much weight he.
- [33:17]
Marjorie Hernandez
Put on, or not everything has been scrutinized.
- [33:20]
Kayla Brantley
Yeah. He appeared in court with a gray beard and there were gasps, you know, in the courtroom. So that's definitely something that they're going to have to, you know, be very mindful of. I want to talk a little bit about your experience. You've had, you know, experience with high profile cases yourself. Could you tell our listeners a little bit about that?
- [33:38]
Renato Stabile
Yeah. So, I mean, look, I, you know, back in my earlier career when I was practicing criminal defense lawyer, one of the highest profile cases were was representing Irv Gotti in the Murder Inc. Case along with his brother Chris. And, you know, they were alleged to be engaged in money laundering for, you know, Kenneth McGriff of supreme fame from Queens. And, you know, they were fully acquitted. But, you know, there was a lot of media scrutiny there. And all the things I'm saying here were things that I said to them about, you know, maintaining their composure. And the jury is. Is watching them. In fact, the jury was watching them. And one thing there, you know, they had a lot of support in the hip hop community. So, you know, I know Russell Simmons came and showed his support, and Lior Cohen, and of course, Ja Rule was there and Ashanti was there. I think Jay Z might have even shown up one day. Fat Joe was there. So they, they, they had a lot of support because they were innocent and people knew they were innocent, so they came to support them. But the jurors saw that, right? The jurors saw, well, how bad could these guys be? All of these big celebrities are sticking with them. I don't know if that's happening here. I think everybody has sort of scattered. I don't think he's going to have any friends in the courtroom. I assume his family is going to be there. And I do think it's important. I really think it's very important for the jurors to see his family there and to see his kids there. So I do expect them to show up and show their support. I don't know if they'll be there every day, but I think they'll be there a lot. They see who's showing up and they see who's supporting him. So it's critical to have that happen.
- [35:13]
Kayla Brantley
Yeah, I think in this case, in Diddy's case, everyone's really kind of distanced themselves from him. So that is definitely a difference. But I am pretty confident that his family will be there. They've been at, you know, every hearing, really, they're supporting him. But do you have any final words of advice for Diddy's team going into this a month out?
- [35:35]
Renato Stabile
You know, I mean, I really think this is all. This case really all comes down to jury selection. I mean, I think so many cases do, and just trying to be able to find people who are going to look critically at the evidence and who are going to accept a defense that, you know, these things were consensual because nobody's going to like what they hear in this case, I assume. But can they step back and say, okay, I don't have to like this, but in America, if the government doesn't prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. I have to set him free. I have to find him not guilty.
- [36:08]
Kayla Brantley
So in your view, this jury selection is basically the most important part of this case.
- [36:13]
Renato Stabile
The most important part of this case. The case is won or lost in jury selection.
- [36:19]
Kayla Brantley
So for now, that's it. Thanks again to this week's guest, Renato Stabile. And if you're in the mood for more courtroom action, then you can catch me on Trial. Plus this week for the celebrity trial specials where we're looking at Johnny Depp versus Amber Heard and Blake Lively versus Justin Baldoni. So please make sure not to miss that one. And as we prepare for Diddy's own trial in May, what other trials would you like us to cover? Let us know by email the trial dailymail.com or you can WhatsApp us at 447-7966-57512. Make sure to start your message with trial.
- [37:00]
Marjorie Hernandez
As ever. Thank you for listening. Please share all your comments, suggestions and thoughts on the Trilo Diddy on Apple or Spotify and follow us on Tik Tok at Daily Mail Crime do follow the trial of Diddy as we will be here in each week with fresh information, new insights and some expert guests.
- [37:19]
Kayla Brantley
Goodbye.