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SOURCE: abcnews.go.com
Sean “Diddy” Combs is expected to plead not guilty Friday to the allegations contained in two superseding indictments that expand the scope of the criminal case against the music mogul that is scheduled for trial May 5.
One of the new indictments expands the time frame of allegedly criminal conduct and adds two alleged victims. The second new indictment said Combs forced employees to work long hours under threat of physical and reputational harm and forced at least one employee to engage in sex acts with him.
Combs was arrested last year after being charged in a sprawling sex trafficking indictment. He has denied all the allegations and has already pleaded not guilty to charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.
Federal prosecutors on Friday plan to ask the judge to start the trial in earnest May 5 and conduct jury selection beforehand. Otherwise, “the trial will likely last beyond the July 4th holiday, creating unnecessary additional challenges in seating a jury,” prosecutors said.
It’s expected to take two weeks to seat a jury. The defense prefers starting jury selection on May 5 with opening statements May 13, according to a letter filed with the court Thursday.
Prosecutors are also expected to ask the judge to force defense attorneys to turn over evidence, saying “the Government has yet to receive any discovery from the defense pursuant to its obligations.”
Defense attorneys said they intend to comply, just not yet.
“Because the government has the burden of proof, the defense has not made any decisions about what evidence it might introduce should it put on a case-in-chief, and thus should not be compelled to disclose materials to be admitted as part of the defendant’s case-in-chief at this stage,” the letter said.
The defense said it intends to turn over items related to the video depicting Combs kicking and dragging his former girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, in 2016 that had first been obtained by CNN. The defense has insisted the video is not all it seems.
“The defense has confirmed, through a forensic video analysis of the CNN footage that the government provided to this Court and of the footage provided by CNN in response to the defense subpoena, that all CNN video footage was substantially altered in significant respects. This includes covering the time stamp and then changing the video sequence. It also includes speeding up the video to make it falsely appear that the actions in the video are taking place faster than they are. As a result, the CNN videos do not fairly and accurately depict the events in question,” the defense said.
In a statement, a CNN spokesperson denied the claim that the video was altered.
“CNN never altered the video and did not destroy the original copy of the footage, which was retained by the source,” the spokesperson said. “CNN aired the story about the video several months before Combs was arrested.”
After the hotel video was released last May, Combs posted a video on Instagram apologizing for the incident.
“My behavior on that video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in that video,” he said in the video. “I was disgusted then when I did it. I’m disgusted now.”
