Sean “Diddy” Combs Moves to Suppress Evidence of Cassie Assault Video

Sean Combs, who’s dealing with intercourse trafficking and racketeering expenses, 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.

Legal professionals for Combs, in a bid to get a listening to on the problem filed on Wednesday, search a court docket order that might hold a possible jury from contemplating such proof, together with resort surveillance footage of him violently assaulting the singer Cassie, or the dismissal of all expenses if it’s confirmed that the federal government was the supply of the leak. The video revealed by CNN was a part of a seven-month marketing campaign initiated by prosecutors and federal regulation enforcement brokers to “elevate public hostility towards Mr. Combs upfront of trial,” they declare.

The movement was filed on the heels of Combs, also called “Diddy,” interesting for a second time on Tuesday an order by the court docket denying him bail. He’s presently incarcerated on the Metropolitan Detention Middle 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 enormous felony enterprise by means of which he assaulted and trafficked ladies with the assistance of his varied enterprise associates since at the very least 2008.

Combs has maintained the sexual encounters along with his accusers had been consensual.

The footage of Combs in a towel hitting, kicking and dragging Ventura as she tries to flee 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 for use by prosecutors to argue that he violated intercourse trafficking legal guidelines, which requires a displaying {that a} “business intercourse act is induced by pressure, fraud or coercion.”

Combs’ attorneys declare that the Division of Homeland Safety leaked the video to CNN as a part of a scheme to get safe an indictment from the grand jury and forestall him from getting a good trial. They argue that Cassie, whose full identify is Casandra Ventura, doubtless isn’t the supply since she secured a eight-figure settlement.

“The videotape was leaked to CNN for one motive alone: to mortally wound the fame and the prospect of Sean Combs efficiently defending himself towards 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 court docket guidelines mandating secrecy of grand jury proceedings and supplies. Beneath a federal rule of felony process, the federal government is barred from disclosing “something that may reveal what transpired.”

Upfront of the potential listening to, Combs’ authorized staff urge the court docket to order discovery of any emails or texts by authorities attorneys or regulation enforcement brokers in regards to the investigation.

“After the evidentiary listening to, and the extent and nature of the misconduct has been clarified, Mr. Combs will submit requests for any extra applicable treatments, together with disqualification of witnesses, suppression of proof together with the 2016 video, or dismissal of all expenses within the indictment,” the submitting states.