This week Kayla and Marjorie dig into Cassie Ventura’s decision to testify under her own name, some new victim testimonies and whether allegations of Diddy’s “Prior Bad Acts” should be admissible in court. The Trial of Diddy is hosted by DailyMail.com’s West Coast News Editor Marjorie Hernandez and Manhattan-based Kayla Brantley, reporter-at-large and TV correspondent at Daily Mail. Our Listener Survey is here: https://ex-plorsurvey.com/survey/selfserve/550/g517/250305?list=6 Follow us on instagram @thetrialpod Email us your questions [email protected] Whatsapp us +447796657512 (start your message with ‘Trial’) Presenters: Marjorie Hernandez and Kayla Brantley Editor: Sam Morris Producer Rob Fitzpatrick Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Jamie East A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What allegations are being made against Diddy?
The following episode explores a number of allegations regarding the artist Diddy. He denies all charges and has pled not guilty to sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution.
The biggest secret in the entertainment industry that really wasn't a secret at all has finally been revealed to the world.
At the height of his career, Sean Diddy Combs had it all. It seemed like everything Diddy touched turned to gold. Now the once untouchable hip-hop mogul is fighting for his life as he faces multiple federal charges in New York, including sex trafficking and allegedly running a criminal enterprise.
Music mogul and rapper Sean Diddy Combs has faced four different lawsuits in recent weeks alleging sexual assault. I'm DailyMail.com journalist Marjorie Hernandez. And over the last six months, I've been investigating this incredible story and speaking to the people in the eye of the storm.
Welcome to the Trial of Diddy.
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Hey, I'm Kayla Brantley, reporter at large for Daily Mail in New York.
And I'm Marjorie Hernandez, DailyMail.com's West Coast news editor.
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Chapter 2: Who is Cassie Ventura and why is her testimony important?
Now, so to the big news of the last few days, that came in a motion filed right at the end of last week when it was confirmed that Cassie Ventura, Diddy's ex, will testify against Diddy under her own name in court rather than testifying anonymously as prosecutors had previously stated.
The Southern District of New York federal judiciary also revealed last Monday that they plan to include testimony about, quote, sexual abuse of other victims at Combs' trial.
And of course, there's more. On the same day, April 4th, Diddy's legal team filed a motion to exclude, quote, prior bad acts evidence.
Yeah, Marjan, you wrote a really good story on that.
What was in your reporting? Yeah, we obtained some court documents from both sides and essentially prior bad acts, that is actually a legal term that refers to evidence of past actions that's not actually directly related to the current charges that defendant has committed.
So, again, in this case, the prosecution wants to introduce evidence, which is here more than likely other witnesses who can testify about their own experiences of abuse or sexual assault with Diddy, which prosecutors say will show his character or what they say propensity. to commit the crimes that he has been charged with.
So now these witnesses are, in addition to the four named victims who are in Diddy's criminal complaint, including Cassie, as we mentioned. Normally, prior bad acts evidence are not actually admissible, but there are exceptions, especially in cases like this, in sexual assault trials, where the evidence may be allowed to prove motive or intent.
And that's what essentially both sides are arguing right now. Didi's attorneys don't want those witnesses to come forward and take the stand. And prosecutors saying, look, we need these new witnesses to come forward and to talk about a pattern of behavior that Didi has had.
Yeah. And then the prosecution really wasted no time in replying to that, saying, quote, since his arrest, the defendant has insisted that every victim in this case consented to every act the government has identified. Having made his intention to argue at trial that he believed every alleged coercive sex act was consensual, the defendant has put his knowledge and intent squarely at issue.
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Chapter 3: What does 'Prior Bad Acts' mean in legal terms?
Right. It'll be interesting to see whether or not they'll have another hearing just to argue in front of the judge about this. They both sides, the prosecution and the defense team have laid out their arguments. It would be up to the judge whether he actually just goes ahead again, makes the order or it will be argued in court in another hearing.
So what is interesting here is defense attorneys are saying, look, if the judge will allow all of these other prior bad act witnesses, this could lead to many trials. They would argue, you know, they shouldn't be allowed to testify because it would be too prejudicial. So this could who knows how long it'll take in terms of actually getting the trial started.
That could mean that it could push back the trial. I don't know. Now, the defense attorneys also argued, look, we can argue this for another trial even before we pick the jury. So right now, we're not quite sure where it will land. So anxiously waiting to see what the judge says.
Yeah, and that just sounds like there's a lot to do before the start of the trial and before selecting the jury and everything. But on the same day, federal prosecutors amended the indictment against Combs for a third time by adding two new charges of sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. Both these charges relate to a woman known only as Victim 2.
Prosecutors have alleged that Combs used forced fraud or coercion to recruit, harbor and transport the woman across state lines with the intent of engaging in prostitution. And all this happened between 2021 and 2024, they say. This new charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison. In a statement, Combs' lawyer said, quote,
And I think that's interesting because when we were talking to Renato, what he kept bringing up was the argument that Diddy's team is going to make that like, yeah, a lot of this stuff could have happened and maybe it did happen, but it was all consensual. And that's exactly what you're seeing Diddy's team saying here, saying that it was their private sex life.
And, you know, he didn't coerce them to do any of this, that it was all consensual. So we're already really getting a little bit of that taste here.
Yeah. And what, going back to now the argument over whether or not to bring forth the prior bad act witnesses, you know, this really boils down to victim testimony. It's Diddy's word against all of these alleged victims. And that's why it's so important to see whether or not there'll even be more people who could take the stand and what kind of other evidence that they have to show that
his quote-unquote propensity to commit these crimes so we shall see how that shakes out and whether the judge will actually allow it there's so much more coming up but for now let's pause for a break
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Chapter 4: Why are prior bad acts evidence controversial in Diddy's trial?
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Welcome back to The Trial of Diddy. And now as we record this on Wednesday, it's 33 days until the trial itself begins, but only 26 days until May 5th when jury selection starts. So we are getting very, very close to this incredible case beginning properly. And as we get closer, some big names are beginning to come out and speak publicly.
Last Friday, Iron Man and Empire actor Terrence Howard became the first major star to speak up, alleging Diddy made a sexual advance towards him during what he described as a, quote, bizarre encounter. While appearing on the PBD podcast, 56-year-old Howard told a story about Diddy saying, quote, invited me for weeks, asking me to be his acting coach for a while.
However, when they met, Howard alleged that Diddy simply sat there staring at him to the point where it began to make him feel uncomfortable.
Yeah, and at one point in the story, Howard says that he was asked by Diddy to play some of his own music, and he did, but says that Diddy continued to, quote, look at him, making him feel, quote, bewildered. Later, apparently feeling unsettled by the encounter, Terrence Howard claims he confided his discomfort to his assistant, who suspected that Diddy had been making a subtle sexual advance.
I think he's trying to F you, Howard remembers the assistant saying of Diddy. We have, of course, reached out to Diddy's team for comment. And it's important to reiterate that Diddy has vehemently denied all allegations made in all recent lawsuits filed against him. And he has also denied all federal charges filed against him last year.
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Chapter 5: What new charges has Diddy faced recently?
But everyone who has come out against him, you know, other than like Cassie and Don Richard, those were all women in his orbit. I don't think anyone really placed Terrence Howard with Diddy, you know, even as friends, really.
Yeah, truly, really. I was a bit shocked about the story. But as you mentioned, most people have turned their backs on Diddy. So now I think more and more people are going to feel more comfortable to come out there with their own experiences with him. And of course we are all still waiting on who the prosecutors were actually called to the stand. We don't even know who was on that witness list.
Could be some celebrities there. We don't know yet.
Yeah, I think that is what everyone's really going to be looking for. And of course, we don't want to speculate because our lawyers will not let us do that. But yeah, we will just see, you know, who's walking up into that courthouse, maybe sneaking through back doors on the day of and then we find it out once we're actually in court.
I mean, I'm definitely going to try to be down at the courthouse and find out. Exciting. I know you're in L.A. I'm here in New York. I could get down to the courthouse within 20 minutes on the subway. You're going to be coming, I hope.
Yes, I'm planning to be there as well. Don't know for the duration of the trial, but definitely the trial will be out there.
We do have a reporter who will be in the court every single day. You know, it's very limited. You can't really have your laptops or only certain people are allowed electronics there. Um, and we have a designated reporter there who will be writing down everything as they hear it, you know, color commentary and sending it back to us, to our news desk.
I'm going to go down there, try to get a seat either in the courtroom and the overflow room. And if I can't get inside, don't worry guys, I will be right outside giving a play by play of everything that we see. Um, Hopefully, we'll see what celebrities show up, maybe some Diddy supporters. I can just imagine with a high profile case like this that it'll be a sight to see.
Kayla, you've covered other cases before that's high profile. Can you tell us just how chaotic it can get?
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Chapter 6: How does the defense plan to counter the allegations?
And then I would then take that, you know, put it into a real story. We did that with the Epstein case, which was absolutely huge because it was the same federal deal where, you know, all you're getting is court sketches at the end of the day. You're not getting live photos and a live feed. unlike Amber Heard and Johnny Depp, which I worked on, which was, you know, live streamed.
I watched it all day long. I just remember for the Epstein trial and the Ghislaine Maxwell trial, especially, you see every day, you know, pictures coming through of the victims who were showing up to court with their lawyers, you know, Lisa Bloom, a friend of the pod, a lot of times would be pictured walking into the court with her clients.
And then as it happens, we're getting real time updates from inside the court. So that's, I'm excited to be at the courthouse this time. Hopefully I get inside and I will be reporting back everything I hear.
Great. And I'm hoping to join you as well.
I know. I would love if you were over here. That would be awesome.
So for now, that's it. And as we prepare for Diddy's own trial in May, what other trials would you like us to cover? Let us know by email, thetrialatdailymail.com, or you can WhatsApp us on plus44-7796-657512. Start your message with trial.
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