When Sean “Diddy” Combs appeared before a New York judge on Monday, May 5, as jury selection for his sex trafficking trial began, courtroom sketches showed a new look for the rap mogul.
The sketches, obtained by Us Weekly, showed Diddy, 55, sporting a beard and head of hair that had gone fully gray. Hair dye is not allowed in the detention center where Diddy is being held, but the look could have been intentional nonetheless.
As jury consultant Alan Tuerkheimer explained to Us, Diddy and his team understand “how fashion makes a statement.”
“There is no doubt he is letting his hair go gray purposefully,” Tuerkheimer told Us. “The hope is that, given the lascivious nature of some of the alleged acts he participated in, the jury sees a more seasoned and grown-up version of his former self.”
Diddy is facing charges for sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty and denied all allegations against him, but as Turkheimer explained, the gray hair could be taken by a juror as a sign of remorse.
“It is a way to convey remorse without any kind of admission of fault or wrongdoing,” he added. “This is a more mature and gentler individual. Many of these assessments of a defendant take place subconsciously, as jurors process his entire appearance.”
With jury selection ongoing, there are still a lot of unknowns related to the trail, namely whether Diddy will testify. Turkheimer said that if Diddy opts not to testify, then his appearance could become even more significant.
“If he testifies, jurors will form their impression based on his verbal and non-verbal communications on the stand,” he explained. “If he does not testify, they will form their impression of him in large part based on what they see when looking at him throughout the trial.”
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Los Angeles criminal defense attorney Joshua Ritter agreed that the gray hair could garner more sympathy from a jury, adding that Diddy’s new look provides a contrast to the charges he faces.
“One of the central questions [jurors] have in their head is, could this person have committed these crimes?” Ritter said. “And if you’re looking over at someone who appears gray, gray hair, gray beard, dressed in kind of a sweater and doesn’t look like the kind of person that would commit the sorts of atrocities that are going to be alleged, that might play at least a subconscious role in their heads.”
Ritter added that, as jury selection continues, the defense will want to find jurors who can understand that Diddy’s opulent lifestyle and “sex with multiple partners and drugs and alcohol and everything else” does not necessarily mean any crime was committed.
In terms of the prosecution, they’re looking for the opposite.
“They need to find jurors who will understand and appreciate why victims of these types of allegations might not come forward,” he said. “People who can appreciate how a person who’s in power might prevent someone or dissuade someone from coming forward, because that is going to be one of the most difficult things for the prosecution to get past, is why are we talking about allegations that took place decades ago?”
