A federal judge in New York on Friday allowed a video depicting Sean Combs kicking and dragging then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura in a Los Angeles hotel in March 2016 into his upcoming sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy trial.
“The defense can’t show the footage is inadmissible,” Judge Arun Subramanian said in a ruling from the bench. “There’s no unfair prejudice to Mr. Combs.”
The defense had argued the video, first obtained by CNN, had been manipulated. CNN has denied it was manipulated.
Also during Friday’s hearing, a defense strategy came into sharper focus when Combs’ lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, suggested he would describe Combs as a “swinger” to explain why he invited prostitutes to join his sexual activity, as has been alleged by prosecutors.
“There’s a lifestyle, call it swingers, that he was in that he thought was appropriate,” Agnifilo said. “The reason he thought it was appropriate is because it’s so common.”
Combs has denied the charges and said his sexual encounters were consensual. He pleaded not guilty.
Jury selection in the trial begins on May 5.
Prosecutors are seeking to include testimony about a “medical procedure” that was not described but that they argued is “directly relevant” to the sex-trafficking allegations.
Prosecutor Meredith Foster said the medical procedure “shows the degree of control Combs had over” an alleged victim.
“Was the procedure the result of one of the claimed sex-trafficking events?” Subramanian asked.
“Yes,” Foster responded.
The judge said he would decide later whether to allow the testimony about the unnamed medical procedure.
The indictment, originally filed in September and followed by multiple superseding indictments, accuses Combs of being the ringleader of a criminal “enterprise” that allowed him to sexually, physically, emotionally and verbally abuse his victims for years.
Combs “abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct,” the indictment states. He also stands accused of narcotics offenses, arson, bribery, kidnapping, forced labor and other offenses.
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