A federal decide instantly rejected a protection request for a mistrial on Wednesday on the intercourse trafficking trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs, after his attorneys stated prosecutors tried to suggest to a jury that the music mogul interfered with the investigation into rapper Child Cudi’s firebombed Porsche in 2012.
Though such mistrial requests are frequent throughout prolonged federal trials involving a whole bunch of items of proof and dozens of witnesses, this was the primary request at Combs’ trial, which is in its third week of testimony in Manhattan. Combs has been lively in his protection, frequently writing notes to his attorneys, and so they have consulted with him as they questioned witnesses.
Choose Arun Subramanian instructed the jury to ignore testimony in regards to the destruction of fingerprint playing cards that occurred months after Cudi’s automotive was set ablaze. Weeks earlier than that firebombing, Combs grew to become enraged when he realized that Cudi was courting Cassie, the singer who had a virtually 11-year relationship with Combs from 2007 to 2018.
The Molotov cocktail used to burn Cudi’s automotive in his Hollywood Hills driveway was original out of a 40-ounce Outdated English 800 malt liquor bottle and a designer handkerchief, in line with Lance Jimenez, an arson investigator for the Los Angeles Hearth Division, and pictures proven in courtroom.
A federal agent testified Wednesday about weapons, medicine and intercourse provides discovered within the residence of Sean “Diddy” Combs in Miami throughout a raid. On Thursday, rapper Child Cudi is ready to take the stand in Combs’ intercourse trafficking trial, the place he’s anticipated to testify about his automotive being firebombed after he briefly dated Combs’ ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura. NBC New York’s Erica Byfield studies.
The protection’s mistrial request got here after Jimenez testified that fingerprints taken from Cudi’s burned up Porsche 911 had been destroyed in August 2012, about eight months after the hearth. Jimenez stated somebody within the Los Angeles Police Division who was not concerned within the investigation ordered the fingerprint playing cards destroyed. He stated that was not regular protocol.
Combs, 55, has pleaded not responsible to expenses that he led a racketeering conspiracy for 20 years that relied on concern and violence to get what he wished. If convicted, he might face 15 years to life in jail. Cassie and different witnesses have testified that she was repeatedly overwhelmed by Combs, and he or she stated she was steadily coerced to interact in undesirable intercourse acts.
Protection legal professional Alexandra Shapiro requested for the mistrial throughout a morning break with the jury out of the room. She instructed Subramanian that “prosecutorial misconduct” had occurred and stated “there’s no way to un-ring this bell.”
Combs faces 5 prison counts in complete, together with two of intercourse trafficking. He has denied all of the allegations.
She stated prosecutors had been on discover throughout jury choice that some potential jurors needed to be eradicated from consideration for the jury as a result of they believed Combs might purchase his approach out of the racketeering conspiracy he is charged with.
“These questions were designed to play right into that,” she stated.
Protection lawyer Marc Agnifilo referred to as the prosecution’s conduct “outrageous.”
Combs’ attorneys argued that the prosecution’s questions and Jimenez’s ensuing testimony was extremely prejudicial as a result of prosecutors had been suggesting that Combs had one thing to do with the destruction of the data.
Assistant U.S. Legal professional Christy Slavik stated “a mistrial is absolutely unwarranted here.” She stated the topic of fingerprints was raised to counter protection strategies by questions posed to different witnesses that the automotive firebombing was poorly investigated and that the realm was not canvassed for fingerprints.
