Diddy’s defense team has submitted a motion to block the disturbing 2016 hotel surveillance video showing him violently attacking Cassie from being used as evidence in his upcoming sex trafficking trial.
According to Variety, Sean Combs’ attorneys don’t want the assault footage, which CNN released last year, shown as evidence during Diddy’s trial on sex trafficking and racketeering charges. At a pre-trial hearing on Thursday, April 17, his lawyers filed a motion asking that the video be excluded or, “in the alternative, to permit Mr. Combs to present evidence at pre-trial hearing regarding the unreliability of the existing and available video evidence.”
They claimed the prosecution hasn’t provided sufficient evidence to verify the authenticity of the footage, which his lawyers previously alleged CNN had manipulated and destroyed the original recordings of. Since the original version of the hotel video apparently hasn’t been presented as potential evidence, they argued it shouldn’t be allowed due to the “best evidence” rule. They also contended that the evidence could strongly influence the jury.
CNN has already rejected claims that the footage was doctored to portray Diddy and his actions more negatively, and dismissed the suggestion that the company destroyed the original copy. They stated the source of the footage “retained” the original copy. “CNN aired the story about the video several months before Combs was arrested,” a company spokesperson added. Cassie’s attorney Douglas Wigdor also denied the footage was altered.
Cassie is expected to testify using her legal name in the upcoming trial. In a motion filed earlier this month, she was said to be “prepared to testify under her own name,” after previously being identified in the indictment as “Victim-1.”
On Friday, a Manhattan federal court judge ordered Cassie to hand over drafts of her memoir. The judge also ruled that the three other victims named in the indictment can testify against Diddy anonymously.
This latest motion from Diddy’s attorneys follows shortly after his legal team requested a two-month delay for the trial. They argued that the newest version of charges against the disgraced Bad Boy Records founder differs from the case they were preparing to defend.
