A lawyer for Sean “Diddy” Combs protested the rising tide of secrecy on the hip-hop icon’s federal intercourse trafficking and racketeering trial on Thursday (Jun 12) after Combs and the general public had been excluded from arguments over whether or not one other well-known rapper’s identify might be disclosed.
Defence legal professional Marc Agnifilo complained to Decide Arun Subramanian after Combs was excluded from a gathering outdoors the courtroom between attorneys and the choose.
That assembly delayed the ultimate day of weeklong testimony from a lady recognized in courtroom solely by the pseudonym “Jane”, who dated Combs from 2001 till his September arrest.
When her emotional testimony ended, she hugged a prosecutor, Maureen Comey, in entrance of the jury, which might have drawn an outcry from the defence besides she hugged defence legal professional Teny Geragos too.
Her testimony doubtless helped either side. She admitted nonetheless loving Combs, however she mentioned she now resents that she felt compelled to have intercourse with strangers to fulfill his sexual fantasies.
Combs, 55, has pleaded not responsible to prices that carry a possible jail sentence of 15 years to life in jail. Prosecutors say he used fame, fortune, violence and threats to govern girlfriends into intercourse with paid intercourse staff in multi-day occasions that they later regretted.
Defence attorneys say the federal government is prosecuting consensual intercourse between adults.
Below cross-examination by Geragos, Jane testified Thursday that she flew to Las Vegas in January 2023 with a well-known rapper and his girlfriend.
Geragos did not determine the rapper however requested Jane if he had recorded with Combs, “a person on the prime of the music trade as effectively … an icon within the music trade”. She additionally requested if Combs and the rapper had been “actually shut”.
“Sure,” Jane replied.
As soon as in Las Vegas, Jane testified, she went with a gaggle together with the rapper to dinner, a strip membership and a resort room occasion, the place a intercourse employee had intercourse with a lady whereas a half-dozen others watched.
She mentioned there was dancing and the rapper mentioned, “hey lovely”, and informed her he’d at all times wished to have intercourse together with her. Jane mentioned she did not recall precisely when however she flashed her breasts whereas dancing.
The testimony adopted the closed-door session Thursday, when attorneys mentioned what info might be disclosed concerning the resort room encounter.
Agnifilo mentioned the necessity for a public trial was “an vital subject, a constitutional subject” and objected to a lot occurring out of the earshot of his consumer.
In response, the choose provided extra secrecy, saying “In case your consumer needs to be heard … we will clear this courtroom if want be to deal with it.”
Agnifilo rejected the supply.
“A part of the rationale trials are absolutely public is so if different individuals realise they know one thing about an occasion mentioned in a public courtroom, they’ll come ahead and share their recollection of it,” the lawyer mentioned, including: “That’s sort of the sensible aspect of the constitutional proper to a public trial.”
A monitor that’s used to point out displays to spectators has been shut off all through Jane’s testimony, though attorneys, the choose, Combs and jurors can view them. Some sidebar conversations between attorneys and the choose have been sealed.
The choose additionally has banned the general public from viewing any displays containing sexual content material, although the defence has mentioned photos from the group intercourse episodes proves they had been consensual acts between adults, and never proof of crimes.
And lots of the letters to the choose from attorneys every day are filed below seal, stopping the general public from shortly understanding, as an illustration, the main points about why prosecutors desire a black juror ejected from the jury in mid-trial. The choose has mentioned he’ll determine the juror’s destiny Friday.
Defence legal professional Alexandra Shapiro has known as the prosecution’s quest a “thinly veiled effort to dismiss a black juror”.
Jane and Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, who testified for four days in the trial’s first week about her relationship with Combs from 2007 via 2018, each mentioned they participated within the intercourse marathons for years, with Cassie calling them “freak-off” nights and Jane referring to them as “resort nights”.
Agnifilo mentioned the defence consented to Jane testifying with a pseudonym however didn’t consent to different occasions associated to her testimony and the testimony of different witnesses not being public.
Comey, the lead prosecutor, attacked Agnifilo’s rationale for disclosing extra info publicly with the chance that it will be simpler for somebody to guess Jane’s identification, saying it was an “try to harass and intimidate this witness”.
