Race will almost inevitably play a part in the prosecution of Diddy, and his defense team is banking on jurors focusing on why prosecutors have invested so much in, as Diddy's lawyers put it, "taking down a successful Black man."
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00:00We have a new one out right now on Tubi.
00:02It is called The Downfall of Diddy,
00:04His Defense, where we are exploring
00:07what is going to be his strategy
00:09when this trial begins in just a couple of months.
00:12And one thing that is very clear
00:15from all the defense experts that we spoke to,
00:19for this documentary, race will absolutely be a big factor
00:24in how they present this case
00:26and the facts that they present,
00:28the facts that they're gonna lay out to the jury.
00:31So here is just a little clip
00:33of some very renowned defense attorneys we spoke to
00:38and why this is, and his attorneys have already said
00:42some stuff where they're alluded to race
00:45and the fact that they feel they're going after Diddy
00:47just because he is a rich, a very successful black man.
00:51It goes deeper than that.
00:53And here is what you can expect when this trial begins.
00:57Race permeates everything in the criminal justice system,
01:01period, end of story.
01:02Race is tremendously important in this case
01:04and anybody that pretends otherwise
01:06is either kidding themselves or just not being honest.
01:08Do you think the defense can point to
01:13the case of Elliot Spitzer,
01:14who was the governor of New York,
01:16who paid $80,000 to prostitutes to cross state lines?
01:22He was not prosecuted.
01:23And this is the same U.S. attorney's office
01:26that is now prosecuting Diddy.
01:28So the argument they would make is,
01:31what's really the difference
01:33other than one guy is black and one guy is white?
01:36I think it's a great argument.
01:37If I'm the defense lawyer, I'm making the same argument.
01:39The government's not beyond propaganda, public relations.
01:44Let's face it, that's their business.
01:45They're better at it than anyone.
01:47I really do believe our government's not beyond
01:50exploiting race when it's convenient for them.
01:54And just looking at the situation,
01:57I think that's what we're looking at.
01:58And whether you agree with that or not,
02:00first off, Mark Garagos, his daughter,
02:03is one of the attorneys for Diddy.
02:04So one of the folks that you interviewed there,
02:06which gives you some insight on where they may be going.
02:09I'm guessing he probably knows something
02:10about where they're gonna go.
02:12But what you guys did in this fascinating documentary,
02:14which I recommend to people,
02:16and again, I don't work here,
02:17so I'm just saying this subjectively, it's really good.
02:19You brought together this mock trial of mock jurors
02:24who watched this whole thing play out,
02:25and it was a diverse jury,
02:27and you could feel the race argument playing out
02:30in real time among the jury.
02:33And a lot of the black jurors reacted differently
02:36than some of the white jurors did,
02:38which was really fascinating to see.
02:39It really is why jury selection in this case is everything,
02:42as it is in many cases.
02:43But here, where you have a case
02:44that is gonna be somewhat fought on the grounds of race,
02:48juries are important.
02:48Now, it is certainly not the case
02:50that all black jurors are gonna go one way
02:51and all white jurors are gonna go another way.
02:53And there are very highly paid jury consultants
02:55that are gonna be helping both sides
02:57to pick those jurors that are best suited for their case.
03:00But there's always compromise in jury selection.
03:02You're gonna get some people
03:03you don't like on both sides.
03:04And obviously, that favors the defense,
03:07because they only need one juror to go their way
03:10in order to avoid a conviction.
03:12But jury selection is everything here,
03:14because I also, in that documentary, Alex,
03:16that you were mentioning,
03:18there are a couple juries there
03:19who are just simply not going to see it
03:21the way that prosecutors want it.
03:23And when the actual jury comes on,
03:24it's the prosecutor's job in jury selection
03:26to avoid those jurors.
03:28Yeah, this is, like you said, Jason,
03:30jury selection will be everything here.
03:31And look, we're not gonna give it all away here,
03:34but the jury, they heard all the facts.
03:39And as you said, Alex,
03:41race clearly was something
03:42that some of them were thinking about.
03:45They did reach a verdict
03:47on all three counts that Diddy is facing.
03:50It's not the slam dunk,
03:52if based on this,
03:53let's just say that this case may not be the slam dunk
03:57that it appears to be to the public right now,
03:59because really, most of what we heard
04:01is what the prosecutors have laid out in the indictment.
04:04We know, obviously, the charges.
04:06We know what they're going at him for.
04:08You don't know necessarily
04:09exactly how it's gonna be defended.
04:11And this is gonna be a very-
04:14And it'll be interesting to see
04:14if there's a black prosecutor on this case.
04:17Although, as we saw in the OJ case,
04:18that doesn't necessarily mean
04:20that race is not gonna be a factor.
04:21Indeed.
04:22Empress from Atlanta, Georgia.
04:24And I have to say that with this Diddy case,
04:28you can't blame a black man for trying.
04:30I don't believe that that's the greatest defense,
04:33but it's really all he has,
04:35considering the circumstances.
04:37Well, if you watch the documentary,
04:39there is more than that.
04:40Yeah, there is more.
04:41It's not only gonna lean on race,
04:44but it is gonna play a factor.
04:46There is a lot that Diddy can start to pick apart here,
04:49especially as it comes to what happened at the freak-offs.
04:53So, all that explored in the documentary,
04:55which is available right now on Tubi.
04:57And that's all to say, though,
04:58there are some troubling things
05:00that Diddy is accused of doing, too.
05:02They gotta explain.
05:03That video, the Cassie beating, is gonna come up,
05:06and they're gonna have to work,
05:08explain that somehow, and remind the jury
05:10that that's not what he's charged with.
05:12But there's no way-
05:13When you see somebody kicking somebody in the head,
05:15it's hard to forget.
05:16Right.