Earlier this week Jelani Maraj's lawyers claimed his sister, Nicki Minaj, would testify in court that Jelani's ex-wife sought a $25 million payoff to drop the child rape charges against him [click here if you missed that].
Turns out Nicki won't be testifying after all and Jelani is seeking a mistrial...
From Newsday,
Supreme Court Justice Robert McDonald denied a motion from the lawyer of Jelani Maraj for a mistrial, after a protest that the defense wasn’t allowed to confront a 10-year-old witness Monday with questions about a “settlement agreement.”
In denying the mistrial, McDonald said in court Tuesday he had learned that “there may have been attempts to reach a civil settlement to avoid a trial” – attempts “many months after the arrest.” But he said he “made a determination” on what he “thought was right” in making his ruling.
Maraj’s attorney, David Schwartz, told the judge Tuesday — outside the jury’s presence — that his client’s Sixth Amendment right to confront a witness was violated Monday. The Garden City attorney said he hadn’t been allowed to query the 10-year-old boy – the brother of the alleged victim – about case worker’s notes he said showed the child “was talking about litigation” and “talking about a settlement agreement.”
He said after court that the issue “goes towards my whole theory of the case – which is a shakedown.”
