STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs begins in New York today.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The record executive, rapper and businessman has been in federal custody since his arrest last September. He faces charges that include sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy. He's pleaded not guilty.
INSKEEP: NPR's Isabella Gomez Sarmiento is covering the trial for NPR in New York, and this report lasts about three minutes. Good morning.
ISABELLA GOMEZ SARMIENTO, BYLINE: Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: Many people have followed this blow by blow, but what exactly is Combs on trial for?
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Yeah, I mean, he's on trial for a number of alleged activities that center on the abuse of women and others around him. So prosecutors are basically alleging that Combs used his significant power and his business empire to protect himself from the repercussions of those actions. So for one, he faces charges of sex trafficking - that means forcing or coercing someone to engage in commercial sex acts. Aya Gruber is a criminal law professor at the University of Southern California. And she says that, especially after the trials of Harvey Weinstein and the NXIVM cult case, the legal definition of commercial sex is quite broad.
AYA GRUBER: Courts are willing to define commercial sex as an exchange of sex not just for money, but for anything of value.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: So for example, promising to help someone's career could potentially be considered something of value in some instances. Combs also faces charges for transporting people across state lines to participate in commercial sex. And the third charge, racketeering conspiracy, is what ties all of this together. Prosecutors allege that Combs directed his employees to organize and conceal these sex crimes for over a decade, and Combs has pleaded not guilty to all of these charges.
INSKEEP: How do these criminal charges relate to the civil sexual assault lawsuits that Combs also faces?
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: You know, the civil law and the criminal law are two completely different systems, but there is a lot of overlap in the behavior described here. So you're absolutely right. Combs faces dozens of civil lawsuits. Some listeners might be familiar with the R&B singer Cassie Ventura, who filed the first prominent civil lawsuit against him. But that's not necessarily what this trial is about. He's really only on trial for the criminal charges in the indictment that we just discussed. However, there is a chance that some of the alleged victims who filed civil suits have also been cooperating with this criminal investigation. So even though there are two different legal roads when it comes to Sean Combs, there could be some intersecting here.
INSKEEP: And we have this question now that comes up whenever somebody who's extremely famous is put on trial. How do you select a jury for a case like this where so many people have probably heard something about it?
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Yeah, I mean, Combs is from New York City, and he's a huge star. So there's really a high chance that potential jurors here will already have some opinions about this case. Both the prosecution and the defense submitted proposed questionnaires for what they'd like the jury to be asked. Combs' team included questions about how jurors feel about wealthy celebrities, what kind of music they listen to and how they might respond to evidence that, you know, describes people engaging in sexual relations with multiple partners. On the prosecution side, several of their key witnesses are alleged victims who will be testifying against Combs under pseudonyms. So the prosecution also proposed asking whether jurors would be more or less likely to believe a witness who testifies under a different name.
INSKEEP: Really interesting. So if he is convicted, how long could he go to prison?
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: So Sean Combs has been in custody since he was arrested in September. He's been denied bail multiple times. And if he's found guilty of all of these charges, he could be spending the remainder of his life behind bars.
INSKEEP: Man in his mid-50s. Isabella Gomez Sarmiento, thanks so much.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Thank you.
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