The Judge Just Threatened to Remove Diddy from the Courtroom: Here's Why
Combs had been looking at jurors and "nodding vigorously," said Judge Arun Subramanian
The rebuke came after Bryana Bongolan, a friend of Cassie Ventura, testified Combs dangled her over a 17th floor balconyThe federal judge overseeing Sean "Diddy" Combs' sex trafficking trial admonished the music mogul's attorneys on Thursday, June 5, due to gestures he made towards the jury set to decide his fate.
'Your client was looking at jurors and nodding vigorously," Judge Arun Subramanian said to Combs' lead attorney Marc Agnifilo after the witness left the stand, out of the presence of the jury. "This can't continue, or I will issue a limiting instruction you won't like — or take other measures, including barring your client from the courtroom."
"It is absolutely unacceptable," Subramanian also said, adding that it "absolutely cannot happen again."
Agnifilo assured the judge that it would not happen again. The woman who had been testifying when Combs nodded at the jurors was Bryana Bongolan, a friend of Combs' former longtime girlfriend and the government's star witness, Casandra "Cassie" Ventura.
Bongolan testified that Combs once held her over Ventura's 17th-floor apartment balcony in 2016 before he threw her onto the balcony furniture, causing bruising, ongoing night terrors and paranoia. Combs has denied her allegations.
Bongolan's accusations came under intense scrutiny on Wednesday, June 4, and again on Thursday, when she was questioned by Nicole Westmoreland, one of Combs' attorneys, about inconsistencies in accounts she has given in interviews with the government, a civil lawsuit she filed against Combs last year and in separate demand letters that were sent to the mogul by her attorneys.
Westmoreland questioned Bongolan about whether Ventura witnessed Combs dangling her over the balcony and where on the balcony she alleges Combs had held her. Bongolan responded many times to Westmoreland's questions, "I don't remember."
On Wednesday, Westmoreland asked Bongolan: "Isn't it true that just two days ago, you told the prosecution you just don't recall the details of the balcony allegation?" Bongolan responded: "I don't remember."And on Thursday, Westmoreland intimated that Combs might not have even been in Los Angeles at the time Bongolan alleges he dangled her over a 17th-floor balcony.
Combs was performing in the Bad Boy Family Reunion Tour in 2016, which had dates on the East Coast in September 2016, around the time Bongolan took pictures of her alleged injuries. When questioned Thursday by prosecutors, Bongolan said that while she was unsure of the exact date, she was certain Combs dangled her from the balcony.
Combs has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution.
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