According to yahoo.com, Sean Diddy Combs and his legal team have filed to allegedly silence witnesses off the stand. According to TMZ, documents were filed on November 3, in an effort to allegedly expedite the process of obtaining a gag order and hoping to halt grand jury witnesses from allegedly giving interviews regarding their testimony. The outlet names Courtney Burgess as the witness behind the move.
Last week, Burgess testified in front of the grand jury and went on to share elements of his statements with the press. Burgess claimed he was allegedly contacted by agents from the Department of Homeland Security to appear in court. He also claimed to allegedly be in possession of evidence including the unedited words of the late Kim Porter and graphic videos.
Burgess and his lawyer Ariel Mitchell, who was also vocal with the media, confirmed that a hearing would decide what he must turn in to authorities, including thumb drives, hard drives, electronic storage devices, devices containing videos and other files. According to ABC News, Combs’ attorneys, Marc Agnifilo and Teny Geragos informed the judge that the public statements are “undermining Mr. Combs’ right to a fair trial and the integrity of the grand jury proceedings,” said letter requesting the gag order.
“These stories have spread rapidly through the media and created the impression that such videos exist, which is false, and that the government is actually crediting his sensational claims, which is profoundly prejudicial,” said the letter. The prosecution objected to the order as plaintiffs in civil litigation against Combs are outside the purview of the criminal court.
Newsweek reported Combs and his attorneys first filed a motion for the gag order last month by arguing that public statements allegedly could prejudice a potential jury.
“To now order our clients to be completely silent about what they experienced would be an affront to their bravery and would be detrimental to other victims of sexual violence who remain afraid to come forward,” argues Douglas H. Wigdor, attorney for Cassie Ventura,” according to HipHopDX.