Sean "Diddy" Combs' trial is now in week 7 and is inching towards the end. The prosecution called its last witness to the stand on Friday. The defense also clarified that it does not plan to call any witnesses, and Diddy will not testify in his trial. CNN legal analyst Laura Coates discussed many developments that had happened in this trial so far with BBC presenter Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty.
In the June 24 episode of Trial By Jury, Laura Coates claimed that the court hasn't heard more from "real inner circle people" of Combs. She further questioned the whereabouts of Combs' former chief of staff, Kristina Khorram. The host asked Mutanda-Dougherty for her take on this.
In response, the BBC presenter alleged that people in the overflow room were disappointed over the short testimony of Combs' former assistant, Brendan Paul. She added that the prosecution can remind the jury of "real moments" shared by Diddy's staff members.
"I would like people to cast their minds back to, if I were on the prosecution, people like George Kaplan, a former assistant of Diddy, who referred to him as a god amongst men. And for me, that was one of the biggest takeaways from this. We had such impactful testimony from alleged victims. But that small comment that he made," the BBC presenter stated.
Laura Coates asked Mutanda-Dougherty why she believed that the testimony of the staff members could be more helpful for the prosecution. The BBC presenter emphasized Kaplan's testimony.
"Because this is speaking to an environment where somebody has been almost deified....Referring to another person as a god... Even after all of this, even after seeing the CNN video, even after being called into a federal court, and this man being accused of all his crimes. He's still got up on that stand and said that." she added.
Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty went on to say that in her opinion, the prosecution should remind the jury of what it alleged about the operation of an enterprise.
"There are a lot of blank spaces," the BBC presenter raised many unanswered questions in the Diddy trial
In the legal podcast, which has been covering the Diddy trial in detail, host Laura Coates asked the journalist about her "gut reaction" to the question on whether the prosecution has completed the "jigsaw puzzle."
The guest alleged the biggest missing piece in the puzzle is victim number 3, whom the prosecution referenced in the superseding indictment. She claimed that it had plans to prosecute Diddy for the crimes alleged by victim number 3. The BBC journalist also raised other crucial questions.
"Another question is, where is victim 5? Another question is, where is Kristina Khorram? So there are a lot of blank spaces...Some legal analysts have said that it feels like they've had to do a lot of rejigging as the case has gone on. They perhaps aren't living up to what they promised at the beginning of putting their case forward." she added.
Further in the podcast, host Coates raised the concerns, claiming that repeated exposure to violence and “sexual deviance” during the trial may have desensitized the jury. She noted that terms like “freak offs” and “king nights” have now become part of what she called “polite conversation.”
According to The Washington Post, the Sean Combs case is approaching the end, and the prosecution has called 34 witnesses to the court stand since the trial began in May. The closing statements from both sides are expected to be wrapped up by Thursday or early Friday.