NEW YORK (Reuters) -Sean “Diddy” Combs lost a bid for a mistrial in his sex-trafficking case on Wednesday, after his lawyers argued that prosecutors were improperly trying to suggest that the hip-hop mogul had evidence tied to an alleged arson incident destroyed.
Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to five counts including racketeering and sex trafficking. He faces up to life in prison if convicted on all counts.
Last week, Scott Mescudi – the rapper known as Kid Cudi – testified that his car was set on fire in 2012, shortly after Combs learned that Mescudi had a romantic relationship with Combs’ on-and-off girlfriend, Casandra Ventura.
Alexandra Shapiro, a lawyer for Combs, said on Wednesday outside the jurors’ presence that prosecutors’ questions to a Los Angeles arson investigator who probed the fire implied that Combs had a role in the destruction of fingerprint evidence.
U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian swiftly denied Shapiro’s request for a mistrial.
“There was absolutely no testimony from the witness that was prejudicial in any way, shape or form,” Subramanian said.
The judge told jurors that arson investigator Lance Jimenez’s testimony about the destruction of fingerprints was not relevant to the case and instructed them to disregard it.
Testimony in Combs’ trial in Manhattan federal court is in its third week. Prosecutors say Combs, the founder of Bad Boy Records, coerced women, including Ventura, over two decades to take part in days-long, drug-fueled sexual performances with male sex workers known as “Freak Offs.”
They say the alleged arson of Mescudi’s car was one of several violent or illegal acts that Combs or his associates undertook to prevent women from leaving his orbit and keep his abuse quiet.
Mescudi testified that although no one had seen Combs near his car at the time of the incident, “I knew he had something to do with it.”
Combs’ defense lawyer Teny Geragos told jurors in her May 12 opening statement that Combs “simply was not involved in the alleged arson.”
His lawyers have acknowledged that Combs was at times abusive in domestic relationships, but said the women who participated in “Freak Offs” did so consensually.
(Reporting by Jack Queen and Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Howard Goller)
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