Three dozen potential jurors were questioned by Judge Arun Subramanian about their answers on a questionnaire meant to help determine if they could be fair and impartial at a trial that will feature violent and sexually explicit videos. Opening statements and the start of testimony are scheduled for next week.

The judge gave the would-be jurors a brief description of the sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges against Combs, telling them he’d pleaded not guilty and was presumed innocent.

By the end of the day, the jury pool was half its size as some were excluded for personal reasons such as inability to endure a trial projected to last two months or because their opinions or past experiences would make it difficult for them to remain objective.

A similar number of jurors was expected to be questioned on Tuesday. A jury was not expected to be chosen before Wednesday.

Throughout Monday, Combs, 55, sat with his lawyers in a sweater over a white collared shirt and gray slacks, which the judge had allowed rather than jail clothing. He’s been held in a grim federal lockup in Brooklyn since his arrest last September. His hair and goatee were almost fully gray because dye isn’t allowed in jail.

Unlike other recent high-profile celebrity trials, Combs’ court case won’t be broadcast live because federal courtrooms don’t allow electronic recordings inside — meaning courtroom sketch artists serve as the public’s eyes in the courtroom.

If convicted of all charges, he could face up to life in prison.

Several prospective jurors indicated they’d seen news reports featuring a key piece of evidence in the case: a video of the hip-hop mogul hitting and kicking one of his accusers in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016. One prospective juror described a still image she saw from the video as “damning evidence.” That woman was rejected from consideration.

After another juror was dismissed, Combs asked for a bathroom break, telling the judge, “I’m sorry your honor I’m a little nervous today.”

One prospective juror said she had posted a “like” to a video put on social media by a comedian who included references to large amounts of baby oil found by law enforcement in one of Combs’ homes. She was not dismissed.

The 17-page indictment against Combs — which reads like a charging document filed against a Mafia leader or the head of a drug gang — alleges that Combs engaged in a two-decade racketeering pattern of abusive behavior against women and others, with the help of people in his entourage and employees from his network of businesses.

Combs and his lawyers say he’s innocent and any group sex was consensual. They say there was no effort to coerce people into things they didn’t want to do, and nothing that happened amounted to a criminal racket.

Prosecutors say women were manipulated into drug-fueled sexual performances with male sex workers that Combs called “Freak Offs.” To keep women in line, prosecutors say Combs used a mix of influence and violence: He offered to boost their entertainment careers if they did what he asked — or cut them off if they didn’t.

And when he wasn’t getting what he wanted, the indictment says Combs and his associates resorted to violent acts including beatings, kidnapping and arson. Once, the indictment alleges, he even dangled someone from a balcony.

Combs has acknowledged one episode of violence that is considered a key piece of the prosecution’s case. In 2016, a security camera recorded him beating up his former girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, in the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel. Cassie filed a lawsuit in late 2023 saying Combs had subjected her to years of abuse, including beatings and rape.

The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, did.

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A Riverside jury deliberated nearly two days before finding Steven Daniel Carrillo, 24, of Riverside guilty of killing Derrion Thomas of Rialto in 2020.

Along with the murder count, jurors convicted Carrillo of attempted murder, special-circumstance allegations of killing for the benefit of a criminal street gang and perpetrating a hate crime, as well as sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations.

They acquitted him of one attempted murder charge.

Jurors started deliberations Wednesday morning, after the prosecution and defense delivered closing arguments Tuesday afternoon. The panel announced it had reached a verdict late Thursday afternoon.

Riverside County Superior Court Judge Jerry Yang scheduled a sentencing hearing for June 28 at the Riverside Hall of Justice. Carrillo, who is being held without bail at the Robert Presley Jail, is facing life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The defendant is a documented member of Riverside’s oldest street gang, prevalent in the area along the University Avenue corridor, authorities said.

In late October 2020, Carrillo was staying with fellow gang members in a room at the Motel 6 near the intersection of Iowa and University avenues, according to briefs filed by the District Attorney’s Office and the defense.

Staying in a room nearby were Sharon Mayweather, Isaiah Smith and Thomas, all related. On Oct. 24, Mayweather was released from the downtown Riverside jail, where she had been held for unspecified reasons, and she became intoxicated at the motel, according to court papers.

“She was hanging around Mr. Carrillo’s (black Jaguar) in the parking lot, and he told her to get away from his vehicle,” according to the defense.

There was a hostile exchange before she returned to her room.

Two days later, on the night of Oct. 26, Thomas and Smith were preparing to drive in the latter’s Saturn sedan to pick up food, and Mayweather was trailing behind when she encountered Carrillo in his car, leading to another confrontation, during which she told Smith and Thomas the defendant had threatened her. They doubted her claims and “ushered” her into the car, the defense said.

Prosecutors said the defendant was incensed, possibly because he had been publicly challenged by a woman in front of three juvenile gang members.

Although his Jaguar had been pointed in the direction opposite to where the victims were going, he turned around and pursued them eastbound on University, according to the prosecution’s brief.

Court papers state the victims tried to avoid further contact, racing through traffic lights until they reached the left turn lane to go into the Food4Less grocery store parking lot at University and Chicago avenues. Carrillo pulled alongside and shouted profanity-laced challenges, at which point Thomas pulled a semiautomatic handgun and “fired up to 11 rounds at Mr. Carrillo,” the defense said.

The Jaguar’s driver’s side window was blown out, but Carrillo and the youths with him were not hit. Smith tried to pull his own pistol out of his front pocket, but the trigger caught on his pants, and he shot himself in the right thigh, according to court documents.

Carrillo pulled his own 9mm pistol and fired into the Saturn, striking Thomas twice, including a fatal wound to the chest, according to the prosecution. Smith tried to flee when the shots were fired but crashed into a traffic sign. He stumbled out of the car and hobbled away to get help.

Mayweather was not injured. Thomas stepped out of the car and collapsed.

Carrillo fled the scene.

Thomas was taken to Riverside Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Smith underwent surgery to his leg and fully recovered.

Relying on security surveillance video from the motel and businesses along University, Riverside police detectives were able to identify the perpetrator, and an arrest warrant was served on him without incident two weeks later at a residence in the 2300 block of Candlestick Way in Perris.

Investigators seized his journal, in which he “bragged about the shooting,” according to the prosecution’s brief, which said he referred to the victims as “snails” and wrote that “there is a sort of war” between groups.

“The defendant noted he was proud he was able to show the little homies how to gang bang,” the brief said.

The defense blamed Mayweather for provoking the altercation, additionally asserting Carrillo was not the one who initiated violence that night.

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Kenneth Rasmuson, 59, showed no emotion as he was sentenced in Los Angeles County Superior Court in Pomona.

Rasmuson abducted and killed 6-year-old Jeffrey Vargo, who disappeared on July 2, 1981, after he left his house in Anaheim Hills in Orange County to look at a fireworks stand.

His body was found the next day at a construction site in Pomona, in eastern Los Angeles County.

“I had hoped to be at your execution because I wanted to look in your eyes and see the same terror that my son saw at his last moment,” the boy’s father, Bob Vargo, told Rasmuson at the sentencing hearing. “Because of your evil acts, the last time we saw our son was to view his scarred and lifeless body lying in a casket with his favorite toys,”

Rasmuson also kidnapped, stabbed and strangled 6-year-old Miguel Antero, who vanished on April 8, 1986, after stepping off of a school bus near his Agoura Hills home. His body was found that day in a wash near his home in the northwestern county.

His father, Gil Antero, said in court that Miguel was “”caring and full of joy” and said his killing “has shattered our lives to pieces.”

Decades after the boys were killed, DNA evidence linked Rasmuson to the slayings, prosecutors said. In 2015, he was arrested at his parents’ home in Sandpoint, Idaho, where he had been living as a registered sex offender.

Rasmuson pleaded guilty in February to two counts of murder with the special circumstance that he committed multiple killings.

The case was marked by conflict over District Attorney George Gascón’s reform policies — which in general bar the filling of special-circumstance allegations — and prompted the District Attorney of neighboring Orange County to file his own case against Rasmuson out of concern that he might one day be eligible for parole.

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said he stood “”shoulder to shoulder” with the families, friends and neighbors of the two boys outside the courthouse and released white balloons in honor of the victims.

“This is what victimization does,” Spitzer wrote on Facebook. “It isn’t just one life interrupted. Or one family. It ripples across families, across neighborhoods, and across entire communities.”

“The pain of losing two beautiful, 6-year-old boys will never go away, but today there was justice for Jeffrey and Miguel,” Spitzer wrote.

Rasmuson spent 17 years in prison for the 1980s molestation of an 11-year-old boy in Santa Barbara County and a 3-year-old Los Angeles boy. After serving his time, he was committed to a state mental hospital as a dangerous sex offender but was released in 2007.

AP News

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