Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial day 15 recap: Judge denies motion for a mistrial over arson dispute

Testimony Wednesday within the sex-trafficking and racketeering trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs was marked by a shock movement for a mistrial from Combs’ protection staff. The play, prompted by a reference to destroyed proof in an arson investigation, was rapidly turned again by the decide, who has saved a good grip on the headline-grabbing trial.

Choose Arun Subramanian rejected the protection request for a mistrial after having the jury faraway from the courtroom within the wake of testimony associated to the alleged firebombing of the Porsche owned by Combs’ rival, rapper Child Cudi, whose authorized title is Scott Mescudi.

An arson investigator instructed jurors that fingerprint proof obtained after an earlier break-in was inexplicably destroyed after it was turned over to the Los Angeles Police Division. In response, protection attorneys alleged that prosecutors have been trying to suggest Combs interfered with the investigation into the incident — a suggestion protection legal professionals mentioned was out of bounds.

Subramanian distributed with the request, partly, as a result of the witness by no means answered a query posed by prosecutors about whether or not it could be uncommon for fingerprint proof to have been destroyed by LAPD staffers.

The mistrial movement marked the primary time Combs’ attorneys pushed to short-circuit the trial, now in its third week of testimony, and threatens to land Combs behind bars for all times if he’s convicted. Prosecutors allege that Combs used his cash and energy to steer a sprawling felony enterprise that enabled him to coerce ladies into intercourse.

Combs has pleaded not responsible. His legal professionals, confronted with testimony detailing a non-public life marked by violence, sexual escapades and illicit drug use, have argued that Combs may be responsible of different crimes however not the costs included within the federal case in opposition to him.

The fifteenth day of the trial concluded with testimony from an in depth pal of Combs’ former lover and the prosecution’s star witness, Cassie Ventura. The pal, superstar stylist Deonte Nash, testified to seeing Ventura bodily and verbally abused by Combs. He instructed the jury Ventura, a singer who hoped Combs would make her a star, instructed him that she didn’t wish to take part in Combs’ intercourse orgies, known as “freak-offs.”

Ventura’s disturbing and sometimes emotional testimony was the centerpiece of the trial’s begin. Attorneys have been rushed to complete Ventura’s look as a result of she was on the verge of delivering her third little one, and a supply near Ventura mentioned Wednesday afternoon that Ventura has, in truth, given birth.

Protection attorneys unsuccessfully request a mistrial

Protection attorneys made their request for a mistrial after LA Fireplace Division arson investigator Lance Jimenez was questioned concerning the fingerprint proof recovered whereas investigating the scene of Child Cudi’s torched Porsche 911.

Child Cudi testified final week that he suspected Combs was behind the hearth, although the rap mogul has lengthy denied being concerned.

Jimenez instructed jurors that he responded to the incident on Jan. 9, 2012, and rapidly reached the conclusion that the hearth was attributable to a “makeshift firebomb” often called a Molotov cocktail.

“Anyone had lit it, reduce the roof and dropped it within the entrance seat,” Jimenez instructed the jury. “For my part, it was focused.”

Jimenez mentioned he took word of the slash within the canvas prime of the black Porsche 911 Cabriolet and “burn patterns” on the seat, carpeting and roof. The outline was backed up by images proven to the jury and at the moment are publicly accessible.

“There was a bottle on the entrance seat, and there was a fabric handkerchief on the middle console that was burned,” Jimenez mentioned. “Contained in the bottle, I noticed a liquid that gave an odor I do know to be gasoline.”

Jimenez mentioned he additionally seen a disposable purple lighter on the bottom, and walked the jury by way of images of the injury, together with the soot injury on the driving force’s door, the burns on the inside and the reduce within the canvas roof. The jury additionally noticed an image of the lighter, the 40-ounce Outdated English 800 malt liquor bottle used to make the Molotov cocktail and a burned handkerchief.

Jimenez testified that Child Cudi had his residence swept for fingerprints after the incident. Two prints have been lifted from the glass entrance door, Jimenez instructed the jury, however the fingerprint playing cards he turned in to the LAPD proof unit have been destroyed in August 2012. The LAPD declined to remark concerning the investigation and destruction of the fingerprint playing cards.

After prosecutors requested Jimenez if it was “uncommon” for fingerprint proof to be destroyed, protection attorneys instantly moved for a mistrial, accusing the federal government of prosecutorial misconduct.

Combs’ staff accused the federal government of making an attempt to plant the concept that Combs was liable for the destruction of the fingerprints lifted from Child Cudi’s entrance door.

“It was turning into clearer and clearer that this inference was what the federal government was doing this for,” Shapiro mentioned. “There isn’t any approach to unring this bell.”

Subramanian denied the mistrial however gave the jury a warning.

“Earlier than the break, you heard some testimony about fingerprint playing cards, and I am now instructing you that questions concerning the destruction of the fingerprint playing cards and the solutions are irrelevant to this case and to the defendant and are to not be thought of by you,” Subramanian mentioned.

Jimenez testified he tried calling a number of individuals at Child Cudi’s suggestion, together with Ventura and Combs’ former assistant Capricorn Clark. He mentioned he was unable to succeed in them.

No fees have been filed in reference to the arson, although the case has not been closed. Jimenez mentioned the standing is “inactive pending something additional.”

Los Angeles police officer recounts aftermath of alleged Porsche firebombing

Prosecutors started the day by calling to the witness stand the Los Angeles police officer who responded to Child Cudi’s residence on Dec. 22, 2011, after he reported a break-in.

LAPD officer Christopher Ignacio mentioned he went by way of the house with the rapper and recorded the incident as trespassing for “somebody coming into somebody’s property with out the proprietor’s consent.” When he ran the license plate from a black Cadillac Escalade seen driving from the home, the report from the California Division of Motor Automobiles confirmed the registered proprietor as Unhealthy Boy Productions, Inc., Combs’ firm.

Jurors noticed the DMV report linking the automobile to Unhealthy Boy Productions, the one piece of proof that ties Combs’ firm to the incident. Tuesday, Combs’ former private assistant, Clark, instructed jurors that Combs and a bodyguard kidnapped her at gunpoint from an house and drove to Child Cudi’s residence. She testified they entered the home. Child Cudi testified that nothing was lacking however he discovered Christmas presents opened on the counter and his canine locked in a toilet.

On cross-examination by Combs’ attorneys, protection legal professionals tried to emphasize that Ignacio’s report didn’t point out a firearm being concerned. Throughout Tuesday’s testimony, protection attorneys equally pressed Clark about her recollection that Combs had a gun on him on the time of the incident – a element that might be very important to prosecutors who may argue the alleged kidnapping is related to the racketeering conspiracy element of the case in opposition to Combs.

Ventura’s Good friend: ‘Very often’ noticed Ventura with bruises

Cassie Ventura’s longtime pal and superstar stylist Deonte Nash testified he “very often” noticed Combs’ girlfriend Ventura with bruises, and he “very often” knew her to spend nights with Combs in lodge rooms in opposition to her will.

On Ventura’s twenty ninth birthday, Nash testified that Combs instructed Ventura, “[expletive] you. I do all this for you, and you may’t do that one factor for me,” Nash mentioned. “Cassie mentioned, ‘He is simply mad that I do not wish to go to the lodge and freak off with him.'”

Combs, based on Nash’s testimony, would determine how Ventura would seem, from her clothes to her coiffure. He recalled arriving with Cassie on the 2014 Self-importance Truthful Oscars afterparty. “She appeared bomb. Her hair was down,” Nash mentioned, however he instructed the jury Combs came to visit and mentioned, “I believed I instructed you she must put on her hair up.”

Nash testified Combs angrily grabbed him by his jacket and lifted him up. “I simply began asking individuals on the occasion for hairpins,” Nash mentioned.

Throughout his testimony, Nash recalled quite a few situations of violence and threats of violence by Combs, particularly one incident when he mentioned Ventura thought of climbing over a lodge balcony in Beverly Hills to flee Combs, who had simply arrived. Nash testified that Ventura “was frightened” after he instructed her “that Puff was downstairs in search of her.”

Testifying as a result of he was subpoenaed, Nash recalled Combs telling Ventura “that he would not put her music out, that he would get her mother and father fired from their jobs, that he would put out intercourse tapes.”

Federal prosecutors have alleged Combs maintained coercive management over Ventura that precipitated her to interact in freak-offs that she didn’t wish to be a part of.

The superstar stylist stays a pal of Ventura’s to today, he testified, and mentioned he helped her choose a marriage gown in addition to talked to her about what she would put on whereas testifying at trial.

Protection portrayed Combs as having the ultimate say over Cassie’s look as a enterprise resolution as an alternative of a component of coercion, as prosecutors alleged.

“It is essential for the one that ran the label that the individual look good, truthful to say?” protection lawyer Xaviar Donaldson requested.

“Generally, yeah,” Nash agreed.