John Hammond has been defending himself against felony sex-trafficking charges during his trial in Albany County Court, according to The Times Union. Hammond is known as ‘Pupi’ and is a reputed pimp who works in Providence.
During the trial, specifically on December 10, Hammond told the jury that he enjoyed ‘nose candy’ with prostitutes. For those who do not know, ‘nose candy’ is cocaine. The remarks, made during his opening statements, surprised the court reporter. She had to ask Hammond to clarify his comments.
To answer, Hammond told the court, “Yes — I do share nose candy with these girls. For free. For my personal use, OK?”
What everyone should take out of this is the fact that one of the charges against Hammond is that he provided drugs to a prostitute. Hammond admitted that he gave the women rides, ‘protection that’s needed,’ and a place to sleep. He made sure to note that he never asked the women to prostitute themselves.
Not long after those comments were made, Hammond said, “I was supposed to have gotten indicted in Connecticut for making these girls prostitutes.”
The investigators in Connecticut did drop the case. Hammond went on to explain, “New Hampshire police and detectives also did an investigation. They dropped their investigation.”
As Hammond continued, Judge Stephen Herrick informed him that what he was saying was irrelevant to his current trial. Hammond then said the following to the jury: “The evidence will show that these charges I’m being charged with are federal charges, me crossing state lines committing an act of a crime … the evidence will prove to you that the federal agents investigated this same case.”
Acting as his own lawyer, Hammond informed the jury that he was being investigated by federal authorities and police from two more states. All of these claims are made on top of his reported activities in New York. All of this occurred before the prosecution called even one witness to the stand.
The opening statement from Hammond ended with, “Thank you for your time. I apologize. My first time. I apologize.”
As of Friday, Hammond decided that his foray into being an attorney was not working for him anymore. He felt as though he was not receiving a fair trial. Hammond stopped defending himself and began attending court solely as the defendant.
An attorney who was with Hammond while he defended himself, Trevor Hannigan, took over the job as defense attorney.
“I’m a heroin addict,” Hammond told the jury while defending himself. “I am an addict myself, OK? I’ve got proof of that.”