Sean “Diddy” Combs’ attorneys are requesting the judge overseeing his federal sex trafficking and racketeering case to declare a mistrial—once again.
Diddy’s defense lawyer, Alexandra Shapiro, submitted a letter on Saturday alleging prosecutorial misconduct. Shapiro claimed federal prosecutors presented “demonstrably false” evidence concerning an accusation that the music executive dangled Bryana Bongolan from a Los Angeles apartment’s 17th-floor balcony in 2016.
Diddy’s legal team stated that Bongolan, a close friend of the mogul’s former girlfriend and trial witness Cassie Ventura, committed perjury during her testimony.
Bongolan testified that she documented injuries from the alleged attack on Sept. 26, but Diddy’s attorneys showed hotel receipts to jurors proving that Diddy was in New York from Sept. 24 to Sept. 29 that year.
“The government knew or should have known this testimony was perjured, and that Ms. Bongolan could not possibly have been injured by Mr. Combs on a Los Angeles balcony in the early morning hours of September 26, or even the day before that,” Shapiro stated.
In the letter, Diddy’s lawyers also accused federal prosecutors of pursuing an “improper line of questioning” by asking the mogul’s former assistant, Mia, how she managed to avoid speeding tickets simply by mentioning his name.
“It became apparent shortly thereafter, during the questioning of Mia the very next day, that in fact the government’s motive all along must have been to suggest that Mr. Combs had corrupt influence over the LA authorities when it tried to create the impression that he was responsible for the destruction of the fingerprints,” Diddy’s team contended.
At the time of publication, prosecutors have not responded to the mistrial motion.
Diddy’s team has previously sought mistrials, including one instance where they accused prosecutors of asking an “outrageous” question to Kid Cudi about his brief relationship with Cassie and the resulting “drama” involving Diddy.
In another mistrial request, Diddy’s lawyers cited “prosecutorial misconduct” regarding discussions about Los Angeles police’s handling of fingerprints discovered during an alleged break-in at Kid Cudi’s residence.
