Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs attempts to block doctor from testifying in trial
Sean ‘Diddy‘ Combs is trying to throw a doctor out of his upcoming trial, in which he’s facing racketeering, sex trafficking by force and transportation for purposes of prostitution charges. The Bad Boy rapper’s legal team has filed a motion to block the government’s key witness, Dr Dawn Hughes, a forensic clinical psychologist, from testifying.
A 25-page filing claims Hughes plans to discuss “coercive control” and outline behaviour that some abusers use to dominate their victims. Combs’ team says she’s entering the trial with “no knowledge of the actual facts in this case.”
Combs’ lawyer, Alexandra Shapiro, wrote, “In this case, Hughes has apparently not interviewed the alleged victims at all, much less engaged in the sort of psychological diagnostics that her profession demands. As a result, she offers unadorned opinions that can explain the accusers’ behaviour—even though she has made no effort to exclude alternate explanations.”
She added, “The government wants an expert so that it can waive her testimony in summation like a magic wand to cure the glaring defects in its fact witnesses’ credibility. This will be a continuing refrain—’ as Dr Hughes told you … as Dr Hughes explained’—and it will be highly effective. But this is not a proper use of expert testimony and it will not help the jury discover the truth.”
According to AllHipHop, his team has accused her of using the same talking points in each trial. She has previously been involved in high-profile cases, including the Harvey Weinstein, Danny Masterson, and Johnny Depp versus Amber Heard trials.
“The evidence in this case will show, for example, that Combs financially supported his girlfriends. That does not count as coercion under the legal definition, but it would count under Hughes’s definition,” Shapiro said. “Suppose the evidence shows that after a fight, Combs apologised, expressed love, and bought his girlfriend a gift. That would not count as coercion under the legal definition, but it would count under Hughes’s definition.”
Combs is currently detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, with his trial set to begin on May 5th. He denies all charges.