Sean ‘Diddy' Combs' defence team request mistrial

Perth Now

28-05-2025

Sean 'Diddy' Combs' defence team have requested a mistrial.
The rapper, 55, is standing trial in New York on federal charges including sex trafficking and racketeering, and his legal staff have now alleged prosecutorial misconduct over the questioning related to alleged destroyed evidence in the arson case involving a car belonging to Combs' fellow performer Kid Cudi.
Combs' lead lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, has criticised the prosecution for making an 'outrageous' suggestion his client could have been involved in the destruction of fingerprint evidence connected to the 2011 Molotov cocktail attack on Kid's Porsche. Mr Agnifilo argued the implication was unfairly presented to the jury during the cross-examination of arson investigator Lance Jimenez.
Lance had testified fingerprint evidence from the Molotov cocktail bottle was destroyed in 2012 without his knowledge, on orders from the Los Angeles Police Department, which was not part of his investigative team.
After a brief recess and with the jury excused, Mr Agnifilo said the prosecution's remarks 'implied that someone in this courtroom was responsible for the destruction of the fingerprint cards'.
He urged Judge Arun Subramanian to declare a mistrial on grounds of prosecutorial misconduct, but the motion was denied. The judge agreed to strike the fingerprint evidence discussion from the record and instructed the jury to disregard it as irrelevant to the case.
Day 11 of Combs' trial began on Wednesday (28.05.25) with testimony from a Los Angeles police officer who responded to the break-in at Kid Cudi's property in December 2011.
Capricorn Clark, who worked intermittently for Combs between 2004 and 2018, testified on Tuesday (27.05.25) about the alleged stressful and violent environment she endured at the rapper's hands, which she said caused her to develop alopecia. She said Combs threatened her repeatedly, including on her first day after learning she had worked for his rival Suge Knight's Death Row Records.
'What did Mr. Combs tell you in the park?' prosecutors asked Capricorn.
She replied: 'That since I'd worked for Suge Knight, if anything happened, he might have to kill me.'
Capricorn added Combs and his security guard allegedly kidnapped her in December 2011 after learning about the relationship between Kid Cudi and Combs' singer ex Cassie Ventura, 38.
She said she witnessed Combs break into Kid's home and engage in a car chase after the rapper in his black Porsche.
Capricorn also said she was forced to undergo a five-day lie detector test and was threatened with being 'thrown in a river' if she failed, following the disappearance of some of Combs' jewelry.
She described being allegedly locked in an abandoned New York building while questioned over the missing items.
Clark broke down in tears during her testimony while describing the apparent brutal conditions of her employment and said she worked long hours for low pay under constant threat.
More than a dozen witnesses, including Cassie, have testified against Combs so far.
The 55-year-old denies all charges and maintains his sexual encounters were consensual.
His federal trial is expected to continue for eight weeks and he faces up to life in jail if convicted on all charges against him.