Craig Boardman
Appearances
Diddy On Trial
Elsewhere in the ‘Diddyverse’: Jay-Z, Buzbee and Kanye
I mean, that's what that is basically saying. But the question is, it's very strange to say, we will drop this lawsuit if you don't agree to go forward. The question is, why? What are we getting out of it? And I think that's what we're missing. Usually you say, I'll do something if you give me something. I'm not seeing what the victim would have gotten out of that.
Diddy On Trial
Elsewhere in the ‘Diddyverse’: Jay-Z, Buzbee and Kanye
So that's the weird issue on this, because they're not saying that small part. So it's just like, why did they enter into this backroom deal that nobody has heard about?
Diddy On Trial
Elsewhere in the ‘Diddyverse’: Jay-Z, Buzbee and Kanye
It could be anybody on the planet and it's going to be incumbent upon Busby to prove that it's somebody who was acting in the control of Jay-Z. It can't just be some random investigators who said, you know what, let's go talk to her. We know who she is and now that we've gotten it, now we'll call Jay-Z and give the information. You just don't know.
Diddy On Trial
Elsewhere in the ‘Diddyverse’: Jay-Z, Buzbee and Kanye
Well, they want Alabama because that is where the Jane Doe lives. And so that's why they had to file the lawsuit there. What's weird about that, if you read originally when Spiro and they guys were talking about it, they are very sympathetic to the Jane Doe. They are very much saying that we don't want anything out of the Jane Doe.
Diddy On Trial
Elsewhere in the ‘Diddyverse’: Jay-Z, Buzbee and Kanye
It is an assumption that Jane Doe doesn't have 10, 15, 20 million dollars to pay them. So the question is, why have we named her as a party? They want Busby. And so that's why they're filing in Alabama.
Diddy On Trial
Elsewhere in the ‘Diddyverse’: Jay-Z, Buzbee and Kanye
Nope. Every lawyer, every case, you have a right to dry a case just in front of a judge, a single person. Juries in the United States can be 6 or 12. It would be 12 in this situation. But sometimes if there's not an issue of fact, meaning it's just a legal analysis, you don't need a jury. You just go to a judge and say, Judge, we disagree about the law, so I just want you by yourself to decide it.
Diddy On Trial
Elsewhere in the ‘Diddyverse’: Jay-Z, Buzbee and Kanye
So you can make your decision if you want a jury trial, if you want what's called a bench trial, because the judge sits on a bench. And so we said, we just want you to decide on your own. But they don't want a judge to decide this. They want court of public opinion. They want 12 people to make a decision.
Diddy On Trial
Elsewhere in the ‘Diddyverse’: Jay-Z, Buzbee and Kanye
ist, dass es zu dem Argument geht, das Diddy's Team macht, dass man vorsichtig ist mit Videos in 2025. Du weißt nicht, wie Dinge gespeichert, gedreht und so weiter sind. Du und ich hatten keine Gespräche. Ich mag nicht mal das 70er-Show. Ich weiß nicht, ob ich noch einmal über Ashton Kutcher in meinem Leben gesprochen habe.
Diddy On Trial
Elsewhere in the ‘Diddyverse’: Jay-Z, Buzbee and Kanye
Aber das wird hinzugefügt und es wird so aussehen, als ob wir uns darüber kommentieren und Kreden dazu geben. Und das ist das, was es schrecklich macht.
Diddy On Trial
Elsewhere in the ‘Diddyverse’: Jay-Z, Buzbee and Kanye
Absolut. Eine der Dinge, die wir vor jedem Trial machen, ist, und das machen wir einfach, es ist fast eine lokale Regel, du willst nicht, dass der Jurist weiß, dass dein Klient verurteilt worden ist, also parieren wir die Person nicht draußen in ihrem roten Schuh. Wir bekommen Haare, wir bekommen Schuhe. I feel comfortable that Diddy will have a haircut, will be very black haired, shall we say.
Diddy On Trial
Elsewhere in the ‘Diddyverse’: Jay-Z, Buzbee and Kanye
He'll have a stylist. He'll look the way that he normally looks. Or they might be their strategy that they want him to look haggard and he's been beat down. Who knows? But yeah, he's entitled to a haircut and look sharp before trial.
Diddy On Trial
Elsewhere in the ‘Diddyverse’: Jay-Z, Buzbee and Kanye
Yeah, and that's what Diddy's team is claiming. They're claiming that this isn't the best evidence of what actually ended up happening. So if you're in the middle of a trial, you always want the best evidence. You don't want something that has been doctored, has been edited, because you can't get the full presentation.
Diddy On Trial
Elsewhere in the ‘Diddyverse’: Jay-Z, Buzbee and Kanye
And so maybe Diddy's team is saying, maybe there's something that happened at the beginning that showed this. Maybe there's something at the end. Maybe there's something that's missing. And they're asking for it to be kept out. Realistically, the problem is the best evidence as to what happened is Cassie. So Cassie will be able to get on the stand and say, this is the video. This is what happened.
Diddy On Trial
Elsewhere in the ‘Diddyverse’: Jay-Z, Buzbee and Kanye
There's nothing missing. This shows everything. So I understand the argument. But when there's a person who actually can testify and say, that's what happened, this video is coming in.
Diddy On Trial
Elsewhere in the ‘Diddyverse’: Jay-Z, Buzbee and Kanye
Completely. I don't think it's necessary and I think it's going down a rabbit hole that's not there because if Diddy's team spends that whole time focusing on... This isn't the correct video and they're saying it's edited. That jury is going to be like, why are they trying to hide from the video? The video is what the video is. And don't forget, Cassie can always testify.
Diddy On Trial
Elsewhere in the ‘Diddyverse’: Jay-Z, Buzbee and Kanye
So whether CNN doctored it, edited it, did whatever, Cassie can say it happened. Now, maybe their defense is Cassie's exaggerating and CNN edited it. I think they're doing what lawyers do. And what we all do is they're throwing every motion they can think of to make sure they can protect their client as much as possible.
Diddy On Trial
Elsewhere in the ‘Diddyverse’: Jay-Z, Buzbee and Kanye
Well, their theory, it has a tie-in to the evidence, and their theory has got to be that that video is related to the sex trafficking charge somehow, that that was a portion and part, and Cheyenne can probably talk about it more, but that video is directly related, that was one of the freak-off parties or something of that nature, or that shows the pattern of abuse that made her feel as though she had to participate in these sex-off.
Diddy On Trial
Elsewhere in the ‘Diddyverse’: Jay-Z, Buzbee and Kanye
It has the tie-in to the underlying charge. Generally, you cannot just bring in somebody's prior bad acts, bad conduct to try to show that they're a bad person. So some people could be arguing, oh, they're just bringing this bitty video to show he's a bad person. Normally, you can't do that. It's called a 404B evidence. And what that is...
Diddy On Trial
Elsewhere in the ‘Diddyverse’: Jay-Z, Buzbee and Kanye
As I mentioned, normally in trial, you cannot bring in somebody's prior bad acts, meaning prior dumb stuff that they have done, to make somebody convicted. Easiest way to think about it, if I have a client currently on trial for drug trafficking, they've sold crack, cocaine, marijuana, and let's say they've done it seven times in the past,
Diddy On Trial
Elsewhere in the ‘Diddyverse’: Jay-Z, Buzbee and Kanye
Well, if you're sitting on the jury and the prosecutor is able to say, well, he sold drugs six times in the past, stands the reason he probably did it again. The jury is more likely to be like, yeah, he's been doing this a long time. I think he did it this time. So the courts have said, normally, make sure you understand, state courts say, normally, you can't get into those prior bad acts at all.
Diddy On Trial
Elsewhere in the ‘Diddyverse’: Jay-Z, Buzbee and Kanye
Unless you have a reason to show that you're not trying to show somebody's bad character. And that's what 404b evidence. So if a prosecutor can say, we're not trying to show that Diddy's a bad person. We're trying to show motive, intent, that this wasn't an accident, absence of mistake. Those are the reasons.
Diddy On Trial
Elsewhere in the ‘Diddyverse’: Jay-Z, Buzbee and Kanye
So they say, prosecutors, give us a reason, a good reason, other than you're trying to show that he's a bad person for this to come in. This is why everybody says the strength of the federal system is scary. What I've just described to you was the state law system. You probably have heard them talking about another rule called 413, and I want to make sure I read this.
Diddy On Trial
Elsewhere in the ‘Diddyverse’: Jay-Z, Buzbee and Kanye
But rule 413 in the federal system, and remember I told you, normally you cannot get into someone's prior bad acts. 413. Similar crimes in sexual assault cases. In a criminal case in which a defendant is accused of sexual assault, the court may admit evidence that the defendant committed another sexual assault. The evidence may be considered on any matter of which it is relevant.
Diddy On Trial
Elsewhere in the ‘Diddyverse’: Jay-Z, Buzbee and Kanye
So if the prosecutors, maybe some of the, and we don't know because they haven't told us, but maybe some of this 404B evidence, and we know there's been allegations, are other sexual assaults that Diddy has committed. And even though that would be prior bad acts normally in the federal system, that can come in.
Diddy On Trial
Elsewhere in the ‘Diddyverse’: Jay-Z, Buzbee and Kanye
The great prosecutors in the United States will build their case slowly, painfully, brick by brick. They will not rush. This six weeks is not going to be some jaw-dropping, shocking evidence. It's going to be bit by bit by bit by bit. It's like the death of a thousand cuts. And so what they'll do is they'll talk about his past. They'll talk about his history.
Diddy On Trial
Elsewhere in the ‘Diddyverse’: Jay-Z, Buzbee and Kanye
Und wir haben eine klarere Idee, wann das jetzt beginnen wird. Sie sagen, 5. Mai für die Jury-Selektion, 12. Mai für die Eröffnungsstatements. Und wir werden mit Ihnen berichten, wie es passiert.
Diddy On Trial
Elsewhere in the ‘Diddyverse’: Jay-Z, Buzbee and Kanye
In the law we have this little thing we call prejudice versus probative. And so probative means it actually adds and helps the trier of fact, the jury, get information. Prejudice means it's just prejudicial. It doesn't help at all. It 100% has probative value.