With less than two months before his criminal trial begins, Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ and his legal team are gearing to vigorously defend the Bad Boy mogul.
But could a plea deal also be on the table?
In the the latest episode of DailyMail.com’s The Trial of Diddy podcast, federal defense attorney and former prosecutor David Gelman talks about the likelihood Combs would consider a deal.
‘If I’m his attorneys, I’m definitely trying to at least get the best plea deal possible to present to Diddy because look, at the end of the day, it’s going to be Diddy’s decision,’ Gelman said.
‘The attorneys, they’re going to go home at the end of the night. For Diddy, it’s 50-50. Is he going to go home or is he going to stay in prison?
Gelman continued: ‘I don’t know if he’s ordered them to negotiate that or not, but I think it would be bad on the attorney if they didn’t at least try to negotiate to get something.
‘Now, what would it look like? You know, again, I can’t answer that … for the simple reason that it seems like the government, on its face, is really going after Diddy.’
If convicted, Combs faces up to life in prison on the racketeering charge and a minimum of 15 years for sex trafficking charge.
The 55-year-old is accused of running a decade-long criminal empire including orgies called ‘Freak Offs’.
Women participants were allegedly drugged and forced into marathon sex sessions, sometimes with male prostitutes, according to prosecutors.
Combs has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Federal prosecutors said there will be at least 20 potential witnesses, including the three main female alleged victims.
Combs has claimed the three women were former girlfriends, including Cassie Ventura.
During a hearing earlier this month, Prosecutor Mitzi Steiner told a judge many of the potential witnesses are ‘incredibly frightened’ their names could be released to the defense and the public.
The judge, however, said the witnesses’ identities must be disclosed to the defense.
Potential jurors will be filling out questionnaires on April 28 before jury selection begins on May 5.
Picking jurors could be tricky for both sides, Gelman said.
The former prosecutor said Combs’ defense team may already have their ideal potential jurors in mind.
‘So, number one, they’re probably gonna want minorities,’ Gelman told DailyMail.com. ‘I would anticipate that because I assume one of their themes is going to be that they’re [prosecutors] are going after an African American, wealthy male. So I think they’re gonna try to get as many black people on the jury as they can.
Gelman added the defense will more than likely pack the jury pool with women.
‘I also think they’re gonna try to get women on the jury because women are, they’re more sympathetic when it comes to these types of cases than men,’ Gelman said. ‘I know it doesn’t sound like that … but studies have shown that women being on the jury are more sympathetic.
In a case where Combs’ has to defend himself against three alleged female victims, Gelman said female jurors could be more sympathetic to the Bad Boy defendant for another surprising reason.
‘Women judge [other] women harsher than a man judges a woman,’ he said. ‘This is all science, not me. So there’s ways that you want to pick a jury, and those are two of the characteristics that Diddy’s team is going to be looking for.’
Search The Trial of Diddy wherever you get your podcasts now. New episodes every Friday.