Diddy Trial Judge’s Direct Answer to Drug Distribution Detail Note From Jury

It’s the second day of jury deliberations in the Sean “Diddy” Combs federal sex trafficking and racketeering trial in NYC Tuesday, and arguments over a late-afternoon note sent to the judge Monday shed some light on the opposing legal teams’ strategies.

Jurors sent a note to Judge Arun Subramanian asking … “If an individual asks for a controlled substance and the person hands it over, it is distribution?”

In the back-and-forth in the courtroom, the prosecution team wanted a clear “yes” answer to the question. The defense team simply wanted a restatement of the judge’s original instructions … which seems to indicate they wanted the jury to continue to wrestle with the issue because the jury presumably already had the instructions packet when they sent the note to the judge.

The judge listened to the lawyers and then sent a note on Tuesday morning reading … “The word ‘distribution’ means actual, constructive, or attempted transfer. To distribute simply means to deliver, to pass over, or to hand over something to another person, or to cause it to be delivered, passed on, or handed over to another. Distribution does not require a sale.”

After Subramanian sent his note, the court was adjourned. The jury went straight back to deliberations.

On Monday morning, the judge delivered instructions to the jury after the prosecution and the defense both rested their cases Friday. About an hour after the jury began deliberating, the foreperson sent out a note to the judge, informing the court that Juror No. 25 “could not follow your honor’s instructions.” The judge reminded the jury of their sworn obligation, and instructed them to keep going with their deliberations.

Nick Rizutti — a retired NYPD Internal Affairs cop who now works as a court security officer in Courtroom 26A, where the Diddy trial is being held — has walked the notes from the jury to the judge and back again with the judge’s responses.