Sean Combs, who’s dealing with intercourse trafficking and racketeering fees, is accusing the federal government of huge misconduct associated to leaking proof to the media that he says prevents him from receiving a good trial.
Attorneys for Combs, in a bid to get a listening to on the problem filed on Wednesday, search a courtroom order that might maintain a possible jury from contemplating such proof, together with resort surveillance footage of him violently assaulting the singer Cassie, or the dismissal of all fees if it’s confirmed that the federal government was the supply of the leak. The video printed by CNN was half of a seven-month marketing campaign initiated by prosecutors and federal legislation enforcement brokers to “raise public hostility against Mr. Combs in advance of trial,” they declare.
The movement was filed on the heels of Combs, often known as “Diddy,” interesting for a second time on Tuesday an order by the courtroom denying him bail. He’s at present incarcerated on the Metropolitan Detention Heart in Brooklyn.
In September, federal prosecutors introduced a three-count indictment accusing Combs of crimes associated to an alleged decades-long sample of bodily and sexual violence towards individuals in his orbit. The federal government accused him of directing an unlimited felony enterprise by which he assaulted and trafficked girls with the assistance of his numerous enterprise associates since at the very least 2008.
Combs has maintained the sexual encounters together with his accusers have been consensual.
The footage of Combs in a towel hitting, kicking and dragging Ventura as she tries to escape has emerged as a key piece of proof within the case. In the course of the bail listening to, prosecutors argued that it demonstrates his propensity towards violence. It’s anticipated to be utilized by prosecutors to argue that he violated intercourse trafficking legal guidelines, which requires a exhibiting {that a} “commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud or coercion.”
Combs’ attorneys declare that the Division of Homeland Safety leaked the video to CNN as half of a scheme to get safe an indictment from the grand jury and stop him from getting a good trial. They argue that Cassie, whose full identify is Casandra Ventura, possible isn’t the supply since she secured a eight-figure settlement.
“The videotape was leaked to CNN for one reason alone: to mortally wound the reputation and the prospect of Sean Combs successfully defending himself against these allegations,” Marc Agnifilo and Teny Geragos, attorneys for Combs, write within the submitting.
The listening to, if it’s granted, will decide whether or not federal prosecutors violated courtroom guidelines mandating secrecy of grand jury proceedings and supplies. Beneath a federal rule of felony process, the federal government is barred from disclosing “anything that will reveal what transpired.”
Upfront of the potential listening to, Combs’ authorized group urge the courtroom to order discovery of any emails or texts by authorities attorneys or legislation enforcement brokers in regards to the investigation.
“After the evidentiary hearing, and the extent and nature of the misconduct has been clarified, Mr. Combs will submit requests for any additional appropriate remedies, including disqualification of witnesses, suppression of evidence including the 2016 video, or dismissal of all charges in the indictment,” the submitting states.
