Disturbances were abound at the federal criminal trial of Sean “Diddy Combs” on Tuesday, as a woman viewing the rap mogul’s sex trafficking and racketeering trial from the gallery shouted out in the middle of open court about the defendant, disrupting ongoing testimony in the fifth week of proceedings, and the trial’s judge discovered that the name of “Mia,” a pseudonymous witness, was leaked online.
The heckler on Tuesday is a woman named Jacqueline “Candor” Williams, who has been a regular inside and outside of the courthouse at 500 Pearl Street in Lower Manhattan. She has been a fixture there, speaking to a smartphone in the front of the courthouse where members of the press await the departure of Combs’ mother and sons each day; she’s also been present in the court’s overflow room where press and members of the public watch the untelevised trial on medium-sized closed circuit TV screens. On Tuesday, Williams secured a seat in the courtroom where the trial was being held.
“These motherfuckers are laughing at you,” she yelled at Combs, after shouting his name and a few profanities. She then yelled, “You’re laughing at a Black man’s legacy,” before adding, “Pull your gun out, ninja, I dare you.”
Combs remained calm as this all occurred, but as Williams and another witness inside the courtroom told reporter Emilie Hagan, the jailed mogul pivoted in his chair with his mouth open when he heard Williams mention a security guard’s gun.
Judge Arun Subramanian quickly ordered the woman removed from the courtroom. Williams said that she has been told not to return to the trial room but that she is still allowed to view proceedings from the overflow room. The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to Williams via Instagram but did not immediately receive a reply.
Her outburst caused a minor delay, and it occurred prior to the start of testimony from Eddy Garcia, a Los Angeles hotel security employee, when the 2016 incident occurred where Combs beat and dragged ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura in L.A., all of which was caught on security footage.
Garcia was a 33-year-old security guard at the Intercontinental Hotel in Los Angeles in 2016. He testified about speaking with a nervous-sounding Combs and his chief of staff, Kristina Khorram, about the footage of the rap mogul viciously beating then-girlfriend Ventura in a hallway there nearly a decade ago. He told the court he ultimately accepted $100,000 for what he believed was the only footage of the horrific incident. Garcia testified that he split the money with a manager and another staff member, another guard; however, he had filmed the footage to show to his wife, and video of Combs attacking Ventura eventually leaked to CNN.
Garcia’s testimony followed that of “Mia,” a former personal assistant of Combs who used a pseudonym in court as part of her testimony, which included discussion of several alleged incidents where she says she was raped or sexually assaulted by Combs. On Tuesday, the identity of “Mia” was leaked online by a YouTube streamer and posted on X (formerly Twitter) by another outlet.
Prosecutor Maurene Comey raised the state’s concerns about the leaked name after the YouTube streamer shared Mia’s identity; the streamer has now been barred from the federal court and will no longer be able to cover court proceedings. Comey told the judge that a second outlet had posted the real name of “Mia” on X and requested that the judge ensure the post was removed and the source who posted it online was barred from court. The state prosecutors have been asked to draft a possible court order for consideration.
Combs was federally indicted on charges of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution in September and has been held in a Brooklyn federal jailhouse since then. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
