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 have been excluded from arguments over whether or not one other well-known rapper’s title may very well be disclosed.
Defence legal professional Marc Agnifilo complained to Choose 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 possible 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 costs 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 establish the rapper however requested Jane if he had recorded with Combs, “a person on the prime of the music trade as properly … an icon within the music trade”. She additionally requested if Combs and the rapper have been “actually shut”.
“Sure,” Jane replied.
As soon as in Las Vegas, Jane testified, she went with a bunch together with the rapper to dinner, a strip membership and a lodge room social gathering, 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 stunning”, and advised her he’d at all times needed to have intercourse along 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 may very well be disclosed concerning the lodge room encounter.
Agnifilo mentioned the necessity for a public trial was “an vital subject, a constitutional subject” and objected to a lot taking place out of the earshot of his consumer.
In response, the choose supplied extra secrecy, saying “In case your consumer needs to be heard … we are able to clear this courtroom if want be to handle it.”
Agnifilo rejected the supply.
“A part of the explanation trials are totally public is so if different folks realise they know one thing about an occasion mentioned in a public courtroom, they will come ahead and share their recollection of it,” the lawyer mentioned, including: “That’s form of the sensible facet 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 pictures from the group intercourse episodes proves they have been consensual acts between adults, and never proof of crimes.
And most of the letters to the choose from attorneys every day are filed beneath seal, stopping the general public from rapidly realizing, for example, the small print 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 by means of 2018, each mentioned they participated within the intercourse marathons for years, with Cassie calling them “freak-off” nights and Jane referring to them as “lodge 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 danger that it might be simpler for somebody to guess Jane’s identification, saying it was an “try to harass and intimidate this witness”.
