HOLLYWOOD, March 16, 2001 – At least, that’s a question “Puffy” could well be asking.
The jurors in this highly publicized trial returned to court Friday morning to resume their deliberations against the popular rap-star, who is being tried for bribery and gun possession charges.
On Thursday evening, the jurors requested to end for the night, citing exhaustion and saying in a note to the judge that “any further deliberations would be counterproductive.” They had been conferring for more than eight hours and have been sequestered since Wednesday. One juror was noted leaving the panel with tears in her eyes.
Combs, 31, was arrested Dec. 27, 1999, after he fled a New York nightclub amidst gunfire with his then girlfriend, Jennifer Lopez. He was later charged with possession of a weapon and bribery, the latter after offering his driver $50,000 to say the gun was his own.
The most notable event in the deliberations was the jurors’ request to hear the testimony of Detective William Wallace again. Wallace, a ballistics expert, re-created the trajectories of the bullets fired inside the Times Square club during the trial. It was the jurors’ first request to hear trial testimony again.
Jamaal “Shyne” Barrow, Combs’ friend and co-defendant, has been charged with shooting three people in the club and Combs’ bodyguard, Anthony “Wolf” Jones, faces charges similar to those against Combs.
