Sean “Diddy” Combs has lost an attempt to secure a mistrial in his sex-trafficking case. His legal team contended that prosecutors were improperly insinuating that the hip-hop mogul had destroyed evidence related to an alleged arson incident.
Mr. Combs, 55, has pled not guilty to five charges, which include racketeering and sex trafficking.
Last week, Scott Mescudi, the rapper known as Kid Cudi, testified that his car was set ablaze in 2012, shortly after Mr. Combs became aware of Mr. Mescudi’s romantic entanglement with Mr. Combs’ on-again, off-again girlfriend, Casandra Ventura.
Today, outside the jurors’ presence, Alexandra Shapiro, a lawyer for Mr. Combs, argued that the prosecutors’ inquiries directed at a Los Angeles arson investigator, who looked into the fire, implied Mr. Combs was involved in the destruction of fingerprint evidence.
“There was absolutely no testimony from the witness that was prejudicial in any way, shape, or form,” Judge Subramanian remarked.
Alexandra Shapiro, attorney for Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs
The judge informed the jurors that the testimony from arson investigator Lance Jimenez regarding the destruction of fingerprints was irrelevant to the case and instructed them to disregard it.
Mr. Combs’ trial in Manhattan federal court is currently in its third week.
Prosecutors allege that Mr. Combs, the founder of Bad Boy Records, coerced women, including Ms. Ventura, for over two decades into participating in drug-fueled sexual performances with male sex workers, referred to as “freak offs.”
They assert that the purported arson of Mr. Mescudi’s car was one of several violent or illegal actions taken by Mr. Combs or his associates to prevent women from leaving his sphere and to silence his abuse.
Mr. Mescudi testified that although no one had observed Mr. Combs near his vehicle during the incident, “I knew he had something to do with it.”
Mr. Combs’ defense attorney, Teny Geragos, asserted to jurors in her opening statement on May 12 that Mr. Combs “simply was not involved in the alleged arson.”
His legal team has acknowledged that Mr. Combs has been abusive in some domestic relationships but maintained that the women involved in “freak offs” did so consensually.
