The trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs continued on Wednesday, May 28, with testimony from a firefighter who responded to the scene of Kid Cudi’s firebombed Porsche in early 2012.
Arson investigator Lance Jimenez testified that a homemade Molotov cocktail caused the explosion but noted that the fire wasn’t as damaging as it could have been. A Molotov cocktail typically consists of a bottle full of flammable liquid that is stuffed with a cloth and then set on fire, but Jimenez said the weapon in this case was crafted with a “designer-type” handkerchief made of a “silky-type material.”
Because the handkerchief was so flimsy, it fell out of the 40-ounce Olde English malt liquor bottle it had been placed in. That meant the bottle didn’t explode and the gasoline didn’t disperse. If it had, Jimenez said, the car would have been damaged further and the fire could have spread to the vegetation around Cudi’s home.
Diddy, 55, is on trial for charges including sex trafficking, transportation to engage in prostitution and racketeering conspiracy. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges and denied all the allegations against him.
Cudi, 41, testified last week that his Porsche exploded in January 2012 after he began dating Cassie while she was on a break from Diddy. Cassie, 38, and Diddy dated off and on from 2007 to 2018. The “Day ‘n’ Nite” rapper alleged that he later had a meeting with Diddy where the mogul claimed not to know anything about the car fire.
“Sean Combs was standing there with his hands behind his back like a Marvel supervillain,” Cudi recalled. When Cudi asked about the Porsche, Diddy allegedly gave him a “very cold stare” and replied, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
The car has become a major point of contention in the trial, in part because Cudi told the court that he believed Diddy was “lying” when he said he didn’t know about the fire. The defense has asked Judge Arun Subramanian to throw out parts of his testimony because his claims were “mere speculation” and posed “significant dangers of unfair prejudice.”
Diddy’s legal team went even farther on Wednesday, asking for a mistrial because of something Jimenez said on the stand. Jimenez claimed that fingerprint cards from the car bombing investigation were destroyed without his knowledge on orders from a Los Angeles police officer who was not part of his team, which he said was unusual. Subramanian said he would ask the jury to disregard that part of Jimenez’s testimony, but Diddy’s lawyers argued that it was too prejudicial and should result in the entire case being declared a mistrial.
Defense attorney Alexandra Shapiro claimed the prosecution was trying to imply that Diddy ordered the destruction of the fingerprint cards, which she said was so prejudicial it could influence the jury even if the testimony was struck. “There’s no way to unring this bell,” she told the judge.
Subramanian, however, quickly denied Shapiro’s request for a mistrial, saying, “There was absolutely no testimony from the witness that was prejudicial in any way shape or form.”
Shapiro then asked the judge to tell the jury that the questions about the fingerprint cards were “improper,” but Subramanian said he would only tell them to regard them as “irrelevant.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential support. If you or someone you know is a human trafficking victim, contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888.
