MSNBC Analysts Torpedo ‘White Women’ Diddy Prosecution Team: ‘Like Lawyer Barbies’

MSNBC commentators pegged the racial makeup of the White “Lawyer Barbies” on the prosecution team as partly responsible for the lesser verdicts in the trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs.

The media world was stunned Wednesday morning with the announcement of the five verdicts: “Not Guilty” on the most serious charges of racketeering conspiracy and two counts of sex trafficking, and “Guilty” on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.

On Wednesday’s edition of MSNBC’s Ana Cabrera Reports, MSNBC legal commentator Lisa Rubin told host Ana Cabrera that there were “racial dynamics” at play with the six White “Lawyer Barbies” on the prosecution side, and MSNBC legal analyst Charles Coleman agreed the all-White-woman team was not necessarily an advantage with a diverse New York jury:

LISA RUBIN: Also, there are some racial dynamics here, Ana, that were at play, and I think both the gender and the racial dynamics are worth talking about.

Earlier this spring, I went to cover an unrelated event down near the federal courthouses, and I was there on May 1st when I saw all six of the prosecutors on this team walk from their office, which is now at the Court of International Trade, to the courtroom itself.

And they filed in a single file line and they are all White women to a person. Six of them and they almost looked like Lawyer Barbies proceeding as they were walking to the court.

It’s not lost on me that particularly given who the defendant was and in a jury that not only was mixed by gender, but had, from my count, at least seven people of color on it, that that dynamic may not have gone over particularly well with them.

…

While I thought the prosecutors did an admirable and even exemplary job of trying to unpack why exactly Diddy’s relationships with Cassie Ventura and Jane Doe constituted sex trafficking, they may have been too forward thinking.

And overall, in tone, they may have really turned off some of the jurors here who were looking for someone they could identify with, who were looking to someone who sounded and looked like them.

The defense team had those people. The defense added attorneys of color. Xavier Donaldson, for example, was added to the team. There were men on that team. An all-White, all-female prosecutorial team here may have struck some discordant notes with a jury of Sean Combs’ peers.

ANA CABRERA: Quickly, if you will, Charles, do you agree?

CHARLES COLEMAN: I do, I think that people have to understand jury dynamics when you’re talking about New York or any other jurisdiction for that matter. You want to be able to relate to your jury and you want to think about the dynamic, the interpersonal dynamics and quite frankly, the identity dynamics, many of which Lisa just touched upon of your witnesses and of the other attorneys that you may be arguing against and how that’s going to resonate given the jury makeup.

So the fact that, you know, Xavier Donaldson was an excellent attorney, a colleague of mine, along with a number of other very, very, very good attorneys, created this very diverse spectrum that we’re able to respond to pretty much anything from the testimony of cross-examining Cassie, some very delicate, very intimate testimony to having to talk about these very difficult things.

And all you have on the other side is essentially a panel of White women who are talking to a very diverse jury of New Yorkers.

That’s not necessarily something that the prosecution was working with in terms of something that was his advantage.

Watch above via MSNBC’s Ana Cabrera Reports.