The lawyers for Sean ”Diddy” Combs have asked a judge to put a gag order seeking to prevent attorneys representing alleged victims from making public statements.
In a letter filed Tuesday, April 29, Combs’ attorneys said, despite their prior request for a gag order, several attorneys who represent alleged victims and witnesses continue to muddy the jury pool with ‘negative publicity’ towards their client.
Combs’ team specifically named Douglas Wigdor, who represents Combs’ ex-Cassie Ventura, for speaking to the media.
‘Absent a Court order, we expect the publicity to not only continue, but escalate as trial commences,’ they wrote in the letter to U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian.
‘Indeed, in recent weeks, lawyers for government witnesses have commented on pretrial litigation and continued to broadcast prejudicial statements.’
They pointed to Wigdor’s comments concerning Combs’ request to keep the surveillance video of the rapper pulling and dragging Ventura by the hair inside a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016 as she tried to escape.
Despite the defence attorneys’ attempt to keep the video from being played for jurors, the judge ruled it would remain as evidence.
The decision is a big blow for Diddy as his attorneys claim the video initially aired by CNN was ‘edited’ and ‘manipulated’.
Wigdor told DailyMail.com he plans to file a response to the gag order request.
‘We will vigorously oppose the motion seeking an extraordinary sweeping gag order as it is an obvious attempt at controlling and silencing victims and their counsel in contravention of well-established legal and ethical precedent,’ Wigdor said. ‘Given this, it should come as no surprise that Combs fails to cite even one case to support his request.’
Defence attorneys also called out Lisa Bloom, who is also representing another prosecution witness.
Although that witness has not been named, Bloom is representing former singer Dawn Richard, who was a former member of Combs’ girl group, Danity Kane.
