Prosecutors in New York constructing a case in opposition to Sean “Diddy” Combs’ forward of his intercourse trafficking and racketeering trial requested the courtroom to introduce proof from the rap mogul’s previous that they insist is related to the testimony slated from their 4 key witnesses, however the protection workforce is crying foul, claiming such a “horror present” would paint him in an unfair mild to the jury.
On Monday, federal prosecutors with the Southern District of New York revealed in a submitting that they consider that testimony relating to the “sexual abuse of different victims” by Combs over the previous a number of years must be admitted and heard by the jurors to face in distinction to the hip-hop star’s assertion that the relationships he shared with the ladies victims had been consensual.
“[The newly introduced testimony] powerfully establishes that the defendant made no mistake when he coerced different victims into undesirable intercourse,” prosecutors wrote of their submitting this week. “It proves that the defendant supposed to take the sexual gratification he needed, no matter consent.”
Which particular situations and sexual encounters the prosecutors are searching for to incorporate of their case in opposition to Combs is unclear, and far of the small print within the prolonged indictment of the mogul have been redacted. Nonetheless, most of the accusations are much like these within the a number of civil lawsuit filed in opposition to the fallen music trade icon since he was sued by his ex, Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura, in late 2023.
Ventura, it was revealed late final week, will testify below her identify and never be nameless as the primary of 4 witnesses in Combs’ federal trial, set to start Might 5. Combs faces 5 counts on three fees of racketeering, intercourse trafficking and transportation to interact in prostitution. He has pled not responsible to all fees and is awaiting his trial in a Brooklyn jail.
The civil circumstances in opposition to Combs run the gamut from some credible allegations to different circumstances which have already been dismissed by the courtroom, together with one by a girl who claimed she was sexually assaulted by Combs and rap star Jay-Z on the former’s residence in 2000 after the MTV Video Music Awards. That now-dismissed case was introduced by Texas lawyer Anthony Busbee, who has taken on a number of of Combs’ accusers regardless of not having filed paperwork to be admitted as an lawyer in New York’s courts.
Group Combs is arguing that the brand new testimony keep out of the trial, refuting the prosecutors’ notion that who they’re calling “prior unhealthy act” witnesses paint an correct image of him. They’re arguing that together with this testimony constitutes permitting proof that invitations a conviction and serves no different objective than to convey jurors via a “horror present” led by the federal government.
“These are totally new, untested, uncorroborated, and uninvestigated allegations,” the submitting states. “All however one of many alleged incidents occurred over 20 years in the past, with the oldest courting to the Eighties. Among the allegations are demonstrably false however would nonetheless require an infinite quantity of trial time to disprove.”
Prosecutors argued that the 4 witnesses tied to their indictment of Combs are set to ship testimony that may even be discussing from the stand “years’ value of beatings, drug-fueled coercive intercourse marathons, and a number of rapes.”
Protection attorneys have requested a preliminary listening to on the matter forward of the early Might trial.
The protection additionally said that prosecutors are withholding an inventory of names of people who make up this testimony till April 18 — a mere two weeks forward of the trial.
“The allegations implicate dozens of unidentified witnesses and alleged co-conspirators all over the world — and a few of the key witnesses to the supposed incidents are useless,” Combs’ protection attorneys wrote. “Collectively, these new allegations require many months if not years to research, and if admitted, would require a collection of mini-trials sure to double the size of a trial the federal government initially mentioned would final ‘three weeks.’”
The Hollywood Reporter reached out to Combs’ authorized workforce for additional touch upon the matter on Tuesday, however didn’t instantly hear again.
Final week, prosecutors filed a 3rd superseding indictment that added two extra fees. The indictment now accuses the rap mogul of 1 rely of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of intercourse trafficking by drive, fraud or coercion and two counts of transportation to interact in prostitution associated to the girl set to testify as “Sufferer 2.”
“The federal government shouldn’t be permitted to pollute the trial with many years of dust and invite a conviction primarily based on propensity proof with no correct objective by portray Mr. Combs as a foul man who will need to have dedicated the charged crimes,” Combs’ attorneys wrote.
