NY Trial Attorney David Schwartz Talking About Diddy Trial ⁨@PIX11News⁩

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Live from Pix Plaza on 42nd Street, it's
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the Pix 11 News at 4.
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The Shaun Diddy Combmes federal sex
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trafficking case could be in the hands
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of a Manhattan jury by this time next
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week. Prosecutors calling their final
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witnesses before the defense gets its
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turn. Prosecutors revealing graphic
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photos from the raids at Diddy's LA
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mansion showing a cash of weapons,
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drugs, and baby oil. Jurors this week
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also getting an explicit look at video
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of Diddy's famous freakoffs and more
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courtroom drama when the judge dismissed
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juror number six, a black male stirring
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controversy over diversity. When I
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looked at him, I cannot tell which way
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he is leaning. Even without this juror,
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it still is diverse.
David Schwartz
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We have a lot of new evidence and
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testimony to talk about as week six of
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the Diddy trial wraps up. And we have an
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expert panel to break it all down for
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us, giving us the very latest from
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court. Joining us now, New York trial
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attorney David Schwarz and KTLA
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entertainment reporter Jasmine Simpkins.
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Thank you both for being with us today.
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Thank you. David, let me start with you.
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After a juror calling in sick and in the
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Junth holiday, court resumed today. was
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a half day of proceedings, but the week
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really started with a big development
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and that was when juror number six was
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dismissed. Talk about that and and why
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did that juror get dismissed? Well, it's
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not that unusual that that a juror gets
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dismissed, but if a juror is stirring up
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trouble and and uh there's controversy
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behind what the juror is doing, that
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it's common. That's why we have
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alternative alternate jurors in every
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criminal case. And in a case that lasts
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this long, it's not uncommon for a juror
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to drop out. Yeah. And in this case, the
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judge was concerned about where this
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juror actually resides because be to be
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on this case, you have to be a New York
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State resident. Absolutely. Yeah. So, so
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absolutely. You have to be a New York
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State resident. So, if evidence was
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brought forward to show that he was not
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a New York State resident, that juror is
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automatically disqualified. And the last
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thing you would ever want is a juror
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like that to be part of the jury that
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that hands down a verdict in this case.
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A big development this week. Also, the
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jurors finally got to see some of those
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infamous freakoff videos. There seemed
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to be mixed reaction from the jurors.
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One woman was noticeably uh upset. She
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winced. Another she looked disturbed.
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Another juror giggled. And yet another
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remained emotionless. What can we gauge
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from those reactions? Look, it it's
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obviously relevant evidence that had to
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come in. It's part of the predicate acts
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which makes up the crimes that he's
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being charged with. The question
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becomes, as all the evidence in this
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case, is are they able is is the
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prosecution able to put it all together
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to show this racketeering conspiracy
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that he's being charged with. And I'm
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not so sure where you have all these
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individual separate acts. It shows this
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organization, this criminal enterprise
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that they're trying to get the jury to
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to buy into. I'm not sure about that.
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Certainly, they showed that he's guilty
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of domestic violence and all types of uh
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violence like that. He's not a good guy,
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but did they prove the racketeering
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portion of this case? I'm not sure. So,
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the racketeering, the rec or so-called
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RICO charges, you you're not certain
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that they've proved that. What about
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this the sex trafficking and and the
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prostitution charges? How do you feel
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about how the prosecution has done when
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it comes to those two charges? I think
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the one charge they made a strong case
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on it's the prostitution charge and and
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going and bringing a prostitute over
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state lines uh in in a business
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transaction. I think they have proven
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that case and there is a 10-year maximum
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sentence with that charge. The other two
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charges I'm not so sure about. Okay,
Kanye West
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Jasmine, let me get to you. A week ago,
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last Friday, Kanye West making quite the
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splash, showing up in court. So, he
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could not get into the pack courtroom
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and and now he's rumored to try again.
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What have you heard about Kanye showing
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up again? So, just to clarify, all of
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the the press, we're either in the
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courtroom and if there'sn't room, then
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you end up in an overflow room and
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there's a couple of those overflow rooms
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that press get to uh sit through. And
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also when the courtroom where you know
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Diddy is and the jurors and everyone
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when those doors are closed the baiff
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isn't allowing people to come in and out
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actually out of that room. So it's not
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unusual that they escorted him to one of
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the overflow rooms and he actually ended
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up in a private overflow room where he
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could just watch by himself. He didn't
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stay long. Um and I think he came to
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show his support. He has been very vocal
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on social media about his support of
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Combmes despite all of the allegations.
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And I wouldn't be surprised if he showed
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up again in the next few weeks. He was
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in New York City, him and his wife, for
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a graduation. So, it worked out where he
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was able to come, but I wouldn't be
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surprised if he makes his way back
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again. And we're hearing and if you know
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Kanye, um, uh, he puts, you know, he
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likes to support people and when he says
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he's going to do something, he typically
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does it. Okay. Now, David, the
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prosecution is wrapping up its case.
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They could rest as early as, uh, next
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week. have they let's talk a little bit
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more about uh you know where where
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they're where they're at right now.
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They're calling so-called summary
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witnesses. Explain what are summary
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witnesses. Well, summary just to clean
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up the the the rest of their case. So,
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they're going to be calling witnesses to
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try to wrap up to try to clean up all
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the different elements of of all the
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charges. Uh we may see some more police
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witnesses. I'm not I'm not sure exactly
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who they're calling, but then the
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question becomes, well, what's the
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defense going to do in this case? Are
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they going to put on any case at all?
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Remember, the defense doesn't have to do
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anything. And sometimes when you
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minimize the defense's case, it it
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really shows the the heavy burden that
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the prosecution has, which is proving
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their case beyond a reasonable doubt.
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Each and every element of that case. All
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right. So, next up will be the defense.
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they get their turn. Jasmine, can we
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expect any more celebrity witnesses
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perhaps?
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You know, I think celebrity names have
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been peppered in. We've heard or at
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least um you know, there's been some
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mention of famous, you know, a famous
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rapper here and there, but some names
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have been dropped. But in terms of
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witnesses, I'm not so sure. I think that
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the def as as um we're hearing, you
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know, the defense is really probably
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going to have about a couple of days
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that they're going to uh put some
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witnesses on. But, you know, I I think
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in the same fashion, I don't think that
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they're going to be doing this for a lot
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of days because they feel that it's the
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prosecution has to, you know, prove
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beyond a reasonable doubt that he's
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guilty. And I feel like this week they
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tried to land the plane. I'm not so sure
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that they were able to do it. Um, but I
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don't see the defense making a huge
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splash next week with some big name. I
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don't see that happening and I'm not
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hearing that that's happening. And
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David, let's look ahead at the defense's
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strategy. Who might they call to the
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stand to refute some of the most damning
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testimony we've heard so far against
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Diddy? Right. The key will be to show
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the discrediting these witnesses, trying
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to discredit the witnesses as much as
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possible. So that's the type of
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testimony that we're going to get. I
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would I would say almost 100% that Shan
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Combmes will not testify on his own
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behalf, although he certainly has the
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right to do that. But but we're going to
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see witnesses that were there that will
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discredit the testimony and also
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discredit the the concept and the theory
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of this RICO of this racketeering
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conspiracy. You're going to have
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witnesses testify. At least I'm
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presuming that that these are all
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separate individual acts. You know,
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whether it was the drugs or the
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prostitution, it's not part of a
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criminal enterprise. This is not the
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mafia that we're talking about. We're
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talking about something that's not an
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organized group and that although crimes
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may have been committed, it's not being
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committed uh pursuant to some sort of
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racketeering. So, David, it sounds like
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if Diddy was your client, you would in
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no way put him up on the stand. And why
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is that? What is the the damage and the
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harm that he can do to his own case?
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Absolutely not. I mean, just the the
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amount of baggage that that the
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cross-examination
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would probably last 4 days of just
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straight, you know, firing arrows at at
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all the bad acts, although some of the
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bad acts are probably are are precluded
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from this trial, but just all the
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domestic violence and and he he's not
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going to have a good answer to any of
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that. So, he needs to be kept off the
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stand. the the the defense has to
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challenge the the prosecution to meet
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their burden approving each and every
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element especially of the of this
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racketeering conspiracy beyond a
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reasonable doubt. I'm not sure that
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they've tied up this package. So, if
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they have the right jurors on this jury
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that are going to look at this case
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logically and challenged the prosecution
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to their burden, that's easier said than
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done, then they may have a shot at a
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hung jury on some of these counts. And
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Jasmine, today one of Diddy's sons,
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Justin, was in court once again, as was
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his mom and and also, I believe, his
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godmother today. What can you glean from
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the family members who have been
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present? You know, the Sean has always
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been very good about keeping his family
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close. You know, uh that's that's the
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kind of the duality of what we're seeing
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with him. He was this family man, this
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businessman, but he also had this dark
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side. So, it's not shocking that his
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sons particularly have been sticking it
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out and coming to court even on Father's
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Day. They all in unison posted messages,
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the daughters as well as the sons. Um,
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and they're showing a lot of support to
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their father. His mother has been there
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every day. He's even leaned over and
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spoken to her uh a few times and been
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able to communicate with her directly.
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So, it's not shocking that he he's
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always been very close to his children
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and I feel like as the weeks go on and
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the days go on in this trial, we will
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see more and more of his family coming
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out to support him. That we can count
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on. All right, David Schwarz and Jasmine
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Simpkins. Really great talking to you
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both. We appreciate your perspective and
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we thank you for joining us today.