The judge overseeing Sean Combs’s federal trial denied an application by defense lawyers for a mistrial on Wednesday, after they argued that prosecutors had unfairly suggested through testimony that Mr. Combs was responsible for the destruction of fingerprint evidence.
The defense objected to a line of questioning on Wednesday morning during the testimony of a Los Angeles Fire Department arson inspector. Answering a prosecutor’s questions, the inspector, Lance Jimenez, confirmed that fingerprint cards collected by police from an earlier trespass at the home of Scott Mescudi (the rapper known as Kid Cudi) had been destroyed, and so could not be compared to fingerprints found weeks later when Mr. Mescudi’s car was destroyed by a Molotov cocktail.
Outside the presence of jurors, Mr. Combs’s lawyers argued that those questions suggested to the jury that Mr. Combs was somehow responsible for the destruction of the fingerprint cards. The prosecution countered that their questions were entirely proper. The judge, Arun Subramanian, ruled that testimony struck from the record, but Mr. Combs’s lawyers said it was too late.
“There’s no way to un-ring this bell,” said Alexandra Shapiro, a member of Mr. Combs’s defense team who is an experienced appellate lawyer.
Judge Subramanian said there had been no testimony from the witness that was prejudicial to Mr. Combs. When jurors returned, the judge told them to disregard the exchange about the fingerprint cards.
Police and fire officials testified earlier in the day about a trespassing and a car fire at the Los Angeles home of Scott Mescudi (the rapper Kid Cudi), who last week described being the focus of the music mogul’s jealous rage.
