Diddy's legal team has filed an emergency motion requesting that Judge Arun Subramanian remove the entire testimony of Dr. Dawn Hughes from last week. They argue that she went above and beyond what the court permitted her to speak about. Hughes is a clinical and forensic psychologist who has testified in other high-profile cases, including R. Kelly's sex trafficking trial as well as Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's civil dispute.
“Hughes…continually used the prosecutors’ questions as merely prompts to begin speeches that quickly veered into outright advocacy,” defense attorney Alexandra A.E. Shapiro wrote in the motion, as obtained by AllHipHop. She further argued that Hughes allegedly referenced several banned phrases including “interpersonal violence” and “coercive control" and even accused prosecutors of baiting her into doing so.
"Right off the bat, the government showed that it had no intention of abiding by the Court’s ruling and that whatever instructions it gave Hughes about the permitted scope of her testimony were woefully inadequate," Shapiro added. “Hughes also repeatedly personalized her testimony for the jury, seeking to enlist the jurors’ empathy in her campaign…None of this was accidental. Hughes is a highly experienced witness and knew exactly what she was doing."
Shapiro also brings up Hughes' comments on memory being subjective and her suggestion that inconsistencies are to be expected. She labeled that idea “junk science.” “The government chose to put on an expert witness knowing that the testimony it elicited would violate the Court’s ruling—knowing that if it and its witness pushed hard enough, the defense would not be able to keep out all of the improper and unfairly prejudicial testimony,” Shapiro said.
Diddy Trial Day 10
Dawn Hughes is far from the only witness whose testimony made headlines last week. Kid Cudi also took the stand to discuss his car allegedly blowing up back in 2012. Cassie had claimed during her testimony that Diddy allegedly warned her that the rapper's car would explode after learning about their relationship.
With it being Memorial Day, court is not in session and Diddy's criminal trial will continue on Tuesday. Prosecutor Maurene Comey has already confirmed that the Bad Boy mogul's former employee Capricorn Clark will be the next witness, according to CNN.
