This week saw many updates in the federal criminal trial of Diddy for alleged sex trafficking, racketeering, and transportation to engage in prostitution. Amid prosecutors' efforts to question former employees under witness testimony, they requested to introduce a curious piece of evidence in court.
According to AllHipHop, the government claims an alleged victim made a 911 call in December of 2011 after Sean Combs allegedly broke into their Los Angeles residency.
"Because this call was made shortly after discovering the break-in, Individual 2’s statements are nevertheless admissible because they were made close in time to when he observed the break-in at his home," Acting U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky reportedly stated.
In addition, prosecutors alleged this 911 call shows the alleged victim's mental anguish caused by the Bad Boy mogul's alleged criminal enterprise, for which they believe this is a supporting piece of supposed evidence.
Amid their larger approach to the Diddy trial, they also plan to introduce testimony and communicative exchanges from Puff's former employees, bodyguards, personal assistants, and more – plus alleged text messages and recorded material. We will see how Judge Arun Subramanian rules on these matters.
When Is Diddy's Trial?
Other recent decisions Judge Subramanian took was the rejection of Diddy's team's requested trial delay, which will reportedly start with jury selection on May 5 with opening statements a week later. Also, there's a new ruling allowing anonymous alleged victim testimony, and an order for Cassie Ventura to hand over her memoir drafts to the defense. Speaking of witnesses, both sides also attempted to block the other's expert witness from receiving admission to court proceedings.
"At trial, the Government anticipates introducing multiple statements made by the defendant’s employees…" Podolsky reportedly expressed. "Those statements will [come up] as exhibits (including text messages sent by the defendant’s employees and recordings of the defendant’s employees), as well as through the testimony of witnesses. These statements cover a variety of different topics, but they all center around the employees’ core job responsibilities of serving the defendant."
Elsewhere, the state reportedly requested the court to block Diddy's team's motions to offer prior statements about his character, the alleged political nature of the accusations against him, and other moves they believe could obfuscate the facts of the case. But as we've seen, that's a two-way street. So we will see how the court balances things out.
