US judge rejects mistrial request from Combs’ lawyers

A US judge has rejected a defence request for a mistrial at the sex trafficking trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs.

The music mogul’s lawyers said prosecutors tried to imply to a jury that he interfered with the investigation into rapper Kid Cudi’s firebombed Porsche in 2012.

Although such mistrial requests are common during lengthy federal trials involving hundreds of pieces of evidence and dozens of witnesses, this was the first request at Combs’ trial, which is in its third week of testimony in Manhattan.

Combs has been active in his defence, regularly writing notes to his lawyers, and they have consulted with him as they questioned witnesses.

Judge Arun Subramanian instructed the jury to disregard testimony about the destruction of fingerprint cards that occurred months after Cudi’s car was set ablaze.

Weeks before that firebombing, Combs became enraged when he learned that Cudi was dating Cassie, the singer who had a nearly 11-year relationship with Combs from 2007 to 2018.

The Molotov cocktail used to burn Cudi’s car in his Hollywood Hills driveway was fashioned out of a 40-ounce Old English 800 malt liquor bottle and a designer handkerchief, according to Lance Jimenez, an arson investigator for the Los Angeles Fire Department, and photographs shown in court.

The defence’s mistrial request came after Mr Jimenez testified that fingerprints taken from Cudi’s burned Porsche 911 were destroyed in August 2012, about eight months after the fire.

Mr Jimenez said someone in the Los Angeles Police Department who was not involved in the investigation ordered the fingerprint cards destroyed. He said that was not normal protocol.

Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to charges that he led a racketeering conspiracy for 20 years that relied on fear and violence to get what he wanted. If convicted, he could face 15 years to life in prison.

Cassie and other witnesses have testified that she was repeatedly beaten by Combs, and she said she was frequently coerced to engage in unwanted sex acts.

Defence attorney Alexandra Shapiro asked for the mistrial during a morning break with the jury out of the room. She told Judge Subramanian that “prosecutorial misconduct” had occurred and said “there’s no way to unring this bell”.

She said prosecutors were on notice during jury selection that some prospective jurors had to be eliminated from consideration for the jury because they believed Combs could buy his way out of the racketeering conspiracy he is charged with.

“These questions were designed to play right into that,” she said.

Defence lawyer Marc Agnifilo called the prosecution’s conduct “outrageous”.

Combs’ lawyers argued that the prosecution’s questions and Mr Jimenez’s resulting testimony was highly prejudicial because prosecutors were suggesting that Combs had something to do with the destruction of the records.

Assistant US attorney Christy Slavik said “a mistrial is absolutely unwarranted here”.

She said the subject of fingerprints was raised to counter defence suggestions through questions posed to other witnesses that the car firebombing was poorly investigated and that the area was not canvassed for fingerprints.

Later, a friend of Cassie gave evidence that the singer was content celebrating her 29th birthday with drinks, drugs and karaoke with friends but her boyfriend, Combs, had a different idea.

The hip-hop mogul insisted on taking Cassie to a Los Angeles hotel for another of his “freak-off” sex marathons, her friend and former stylist said.

Deonte Nash told jurors that he saw the temperamental Combs berating Cassie as she pleaded for him to let her enjoy her birthday on her own terms. Later that night, Mr Nash said that Cassie told the stylist, “I don’t want to freak-off,” but that she had to because Combs was making her.

Mr Nash testified that the 2015 conversation was one of several times Cassie confided to him that she did not want to engage in Combs’ drug-fuelled hotel encounters.

Earlier in the trial, Cassie testified that these often involved Combs watching, directing and sometimes filming her as she had sex with a male sex worker. She said she engaged in hundreds of such encounters during her nearly 11-year relationship with Combs from 2007 to 2018.

Mr Nash said he remains close with Cassie, even advising her on her trial wardrobe. He said he contacted her on Tuesday to congratulate her on the birth of her third child.

Along with shedding light on Cassie’s feelings about freak-offs, M Nash also corroborated her testimony that Combs frequently beat and tormented her. Combs would threaten to hinder Cassie’s fledgling music career and said he would ruin her reputation by releasing recordings of their sexual encounters, Mr Nash said.

The stylist said he was at Cassie’s apartment, helping her pack for a music festival, when Combs stormed in, grabbed her by the hair, pulled her off a couch and hit her repeatedly. Mr Nash said he jumped on Combs’ back in an attempt to get him to stop but Combs bucked and threw him to the ground.

Combs resumed attacking Cassie, who fled to a bedroom with Mr Nash and another friend, knocking her head into the edge of the bed frame and causing a large, bloody gash above her eye, the witness said.

“Look what y’all made me do,” Combs said, according to Mr Nash.