Members of LAPD, LAFD next to testify after Kid Cudi, Cassie, ex-assistants

Jimenez testified that he wanted to interview possible witnesses who were connected to Combs — but was greeted by silence.

He especially wanted to interview Combs’ girlfriend at the time, Cassie Ventura, and assistant Capricorn Clark but they never returned his phone calls or answered the front door when the investigator knocked in person, Jimenez said.

Jimenez ‘s testimony could go to the government’s obstruction of justice allegations against Combs.

Combs’ legal team moved for a mistrial, accusing the prosecution of misconduct over the implication that Combs may have destroyed fingerprint evidence.

Judge Arun Subramanian ruled that the testimony from the arson investigator would be struck, but Alexandra Shapiro, one of Combs’ attorneys, said the jury will be left with the impression regardless. Prosecutor Christy Slavik argued that there were good faith questions regarding the investigation into the firebombing of Kid Cudi’s car.

Subramanian denied the motion for a mistrial, saying there were no objections on the line of questioning up until that point and no testimony that was prejudicial in any way, shape or form.

He added that it was plausible to raise the fingerprint cards during their direct questioning of the witness because the defense was likely going to bring up the fact that evidence in the investigation was destroyed.

The trial came to a dramatic pause when Jimenez revealed that some of the fingerprints lifted during the trespassing probe were destroyed.

The defense argued that all testimony about lost fingerprints should be stricken from the record because the inference could be that Combs had something to do it.

“What the government has done is outrageous,” defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo said.

U.S. District Court Judge Arun Subramanian agreed with the defense and struck mentions of the lost fingerprints.

Jimenez called the fire set inside Kid Cudi’s car a “targeted” crime.

It was clear that an attacker took a bottle of gasoline, put a cloth in it, set it on fire and dropped it into the rapper’s Porsche, according to the LAFD investigator.

“I personally felt that it was targeted,” the witness said.

Arson is among the acts listed in the racketeering conspiracy allegations against Combs.

The damage to Kid Cudi’s car was not as extensive as it could have been because the Molotov cocktail didn’t shatter as it was likely intended to, Jimenez explained to the court.

He testified that the cloth fell out and that the bottle didn’t break, which would have caused the gasoline inside the bottle to disperse.

Jimenez told the court that firebombs, in his experience, can cause significant damage.

Arson investigator Lance Jimenez recalled how he was dispatched to Kid Cudi’s Los Angeles home and found a Molotov cocktail in the rapper’s car.

An engine company was already scene on Jan. 9, 2012, and found a Porsche with a foot-long cut on its canvas top, Jimenez said.

He reported a bottle with a burned handkerchief on the center console with the smell of gasoline.

Defense attorney Brian Steele cross-examined the Los Angeles officer who responded to the Kid Cudi break-in, getting him to testify that the incident at the home was not reported as a burgl.

Steele asked Ignacio whether there was any evidence or reports of stolen items, and Ignacio said no. The officer also testified there were no reports made to him at the time that there was a threat to kill anyone.

This is an important moment for Combs’ defense because robbery and murder are predicate crimes that would provide support to the government’s racketeering charge.

The car police observed leaving the scene of the break-in at Kid Cudi’s home was registered to one of Combs’ companies, according to testimony from Los Angeles police Officer Chris Ignacio.

Ignacio told the court he noticed a Cadillac Escalade directly in front of the rapper’s Hollywood Hills home and memorized the license plate in case it was relevant. The officer added that they did not have a confirmed crime when reporting to the home.

A trespassing report was made, Ignacio said, and the computer showed the Escalade was registered to Bad Boy Productions, Inc.

When Officer Ignacio entered Kid Cudi’s home, he spotted a table with Christmas gifts on it — some were wrapped, some were not.

The policeman’s observations could back up Kid Cudi’s previous testimony that Combs broke into his house and opened gifts he’d purchased for his family.

Los Angeles police Officer Chris Ignacio, a 16-year veteran of the force, took the witness stand for the state.

Ignacio was working out of the Hollywood Division in late 2011 when he answered a call about a possible break-in at Kid Cudi’s house.

Court is now officially in session, kicking off the 11th day of Combs’ racketeering and trafficking trial.

Combs is in court wearing a dark blue sweater over a white shirt.

Marc Agnifilo, Brian Steel and Nicole Westmoreland were all seen arriving this morning after 8 a.m.

In her testimony yesterday, Capricorn Clark said Combs was outraged to learn that Cassie and rapper Kid Cudi, whose real name is Scott Mescudi, were seeing each other.

She recalled that the morning of Dec. 22, 2011, Combs banged on her apartment door enraged, with a firearm, and said, “Get dressed, we’re going to go kill Mescudi.”

Clark also testified that she was sitting in a car at Kid Cudi’s home when Combs entered. She also said she took Ventura to Best Buy at one point to buy a burner phone to contact Kid Cudi, because she feared Cassie was “going to get us all killed.”

Capricorn Clark, who worked as an aide to Combs for years, testified in court yesterday and described her former boss as ruthless and violent. 

She testified he had threatened to kill her, subjected her to days of lie detector tests, asked her to buy drugs and shoved her at his Miami home in 2006.

Clark also testified about Combs’ “toxic” relationship with Cassie Ventura. She testified that Combs brutally beat Ventura after he broke into Kid Cudi’s home in 2011.

Clark told the court she called Ventura’s mother for help, and told her, “He’s beating the s— out of your daughter. I’m in over my head. Please help her. I can’t call the police, but you can.”

Combs’ bitter rival, Death Row Records founder Suge Knight, said he believes the Bad Boy executive is being wrongly prosecuted.

“Puffy and I are not friends, but Puffy should definitely walk at the end of the day,” Knight told NewsNation host Chris Cuomo in a jailhouse interview yesterday.

Knight said that if Combs did break the law, he shouldn’t be the only person prosecuted.

“But the most important thing is that it was other executives that was involved in Puffy’s life, and for Puffy to be the only guy that gets on the stand is a sad day for hip-hop,” said Knight, who is being held at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego.

The Death Row founder’s name was mentioned at trial because Combs allegedly armed himself and tried to confront Knight at an L.A. restaurant in 2008.

Knight was sentenced to 28 years in prison in 2018 for a fatal hit-and-run three years prior.

Los Angeles police Officer Christopher Ignacio and L.A. fire arson investigator Lance Jiminez are expected to be the first witnesses to take the witness stand this morning.

They will presumably discuss the 2012 Molotov cocktail attack on Kid Cudi’s Porsche.

Stylist Deonte Nash, a former Combs employee, and “Mia,” an alleged victim of Combs, are set to follow the L.A. authorities.