Diddy Says Cassie Hotel Video Was ‘Manipulated’ and Should Be Excluded From Courtroom Proceedings

Photo Credit: CNN

Diddy requests the video footage of him brutally beating Cassie Ventura to be excluded from evidence at his trial, claiming it has been manipulated.

Sean “Diddy” Combs has requested the hotel video footage that showed him beating ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura be excluded from evidence at his trial. The disgraced music mogul and his team claim the footage, which was released by CNN in May last year, has been manipulated.

“Mr. Combs seeks to exclude all available video files related to an incident from March 5, 2016, in the Intercontinental Hotel,” his lawyers wrote in a 15-page motion, which was submitted to the US Southern District Court of New York on Thursday.

“There is no longer any dispute that the CNN footage from March 5, 2016, at the Intercontinental Hotel, offered by the government at three separate bail hearings, is wholly inaccurate, having been altered, manipulated, sped-up, and edited to be out of sequence,” they claim. “CNN paid [redacted] for footage, copied that footage in unknown ways, presented that footage out of order, and destroyed the original. Accordingly, all the footage from CNN is inaccurate and inadmissible as well.”

Combs’ team also requested a pre-trial hearing to “present testimony and video evidence” from a forensic video analyst, Conor McCourt, “so that the court can better understand the ways in which each of the available videos are unreliable and not a fair and accurate reflection of the actions depicted.”

CNN denies all claims of manipulate footage, asserting that none of the footage was ever altered. “CNN never altered the video and did not destroy the original copy of the footage, which was retained by the source,” said a CNN spokesperson. “We aired the story about the video several months before Combs was arrested.”

Combs’ trial begins on May 12, with jury selection beginning on May 5. A New York City judge has denied his request to delay the federal trial by two months, determining there should have been ample time for his team to prepare.

Diddy has been charged with five counts of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pled not guilty to all charges.

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