Key players in the ‘Puffy’ Combs trial
The rapper speaks
March 16 — Combs responds to being found not guilty.

       
LAWYER EXPLAINS STRATEGY
       Brafman, in a telephone interview Sunday with The Associated Press, said the key to winning over the jury was “to get 12 ordinary citizens to get past the hype and the terribly prejudicial media coverage going in and simply look at the facts.”
       Brafman said part of his task was to get the jury to see Combs, 31, as “an extraordinary young man who has accomplished so much at this early stage of his life.”
       Brafman said Combs had “learned a lot” about protecting his image. “I think he’s going to be more careful about where he goes and who’s going to be allowed into his inner circle,” he said.
       Brafman also said he succeeded in getting an acquittal in part by bringing out two important elements that were not related to anyone’s account of what happened in the club.
       “One was the fact that within minutes of Sean and Jennifer [Lopez, his then-girlfriend] arriving at the precinct, you had the duty sergeant calling up the press because he deemed this to be a newsworthy case,” he said. This suggested to the jury that Combs’ celebrity might have affected how his case was being handled, the attorney said.
       The other element, Brafman noted, was that Combs faces lawsuits seeking more than $1 billion.
       Combs is being sued by the three people who were shot in the club; by his driver Wardel Fenderson, who claimed Combs tried to bribe him to take the gun charge who is suing for $3 million for emotional distress; and by the owner of Club New York, who claims his business was harmed by the shooting.
       “The amounts of money being requested by these people made them look not like victims but like opportunists,” Brafman said.
       Luke Pittoni, the lawyer who is defending Combs against the civil lawsuits, said Sunday in a telephone interview with The Associated Press that he will seek to have the lawsuits dismissed in the wake of the acquittal.
       He noted that the money sought from Combs is not directly related to the criminal trial, but Pittoni said he believes the acquittal could “discourage them from continuing the lawsuit.”
       Combs did not respond to calls seeking comment left at his office or with his spokeswoman, Nathalie Moar.
       
   Key dates in the ‘Puffy’ Combs trial  
     
     
Dec. 27, 1999
*A melee in Club New York in Manhattan ends with three people shot. Combs flees with then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez in his chauffeured Lincoln Navigator. Police stop the car, after it allegedly runs 11 stop lights. Combs and the vehicle's other occupants are taken into custody. Combs' rap protégé, Jamaal "Shyne" Barrow is arrested outside the club and charged with criminal possession of a weapon.
Jan. 5, 2000
*Barrow is indicted for attempted murder, among other charges.
Jan. 13, 2000
*Combs and his bodyguard Anthony "Wolf" Jones are indicted for illegal possesion of a weapon allegedly found in the car and another gun reportedly thrown from it during the police chase.
Jan. 26, 2000
*Combs is indicted for attempting to bribe the Navigator's driver, Wardel Fenderson, to say that it was his gun that police found in the car. Prosecutors say Combs offered to pay Fenderson $50,000 and to give him a diamond ring from Lopez as collateral.

TRIAL BACKGROUND
       After the trial, the jurors were driven away in a bus and did not immediately speak to reporters.
       The high-profile trial stretched nearly seven weeks, with jurors hearing from 59 witnesses and examining more than 130 pieces of evidence. Combs dressed in a conservative dark suit during most of the trial, and his mother was in the gallery behind him.
       Combs testified that he had expected to party for a while and do a little networking with other music industry types inside the nightclub just west of Times Square.
       But trouble began as Combs tried to exit the club shortly after 2:30 a.m. Someone bumped into Matthew “Scar” Allen, who was at the club that night. After an exchange of insults, someone allegedly tossed a fistful of dollar bills at Combs.
       Three to six shots then rang out inside the club, sending panicked club-goers diving to the floor or charging toward the exits. Three people were wounded: Natania Reuben was shot in her face, while Robert Thompson and Julius Jones were hit in their shoulders. Reuben still has seven bullet fragments in her head, and Jones has a bullet lodged near his spine.
       Nine witnesses later said they saw Barrow with a gun. Two of the shooting victims testified that they also saw Combs with a gun.
March 16 — Johnnie Cochran talks to Dan Abrams about the verdict.
       Barrow was accused of shooting the victims, but he was charged with a single attempted-murder count because he was shooting at just one person. Prosecutors said Barrow missed his intended target.
       Reuben, a Brooklyn hairdresser, was the first witness to say Combs fired a gun, an assertion contradicted by defense witnesses.
       Combs fled the club with Lopez, Jones and driver Fenderson in his Lincoln Navigator. They were stopped 11 blocks away after Fenderson steered the SUV onto a sidewalk to evade a police car and then ran several red lights.
       A 9mm handgun police found in the SUV and a similar weapon that was allegedly hurled out of the window during the chase led to gun possession charges against Combs and Jones.
       Lopez initially was arrested but never charged.
       The same charges were dropped against Fenderson when he agreed to testify against the others. In stilted speech laced with malapropisms, he said his wild driving was caused by fear of the gun-toting Combs and Jones.
       Fenderson, who twice told police that he owned the gun before recanting, also detailed the alleged bribe offer.
       Lopez was never called to testify despite a promise to appear if Combs needed her. The superstar told the grand jury that she never saw Combs with a gun on the night of the shooting.