Jennifer Hough’s lawsuit against Nicky Minaj’s husband, Kenneth Petty, has hit another roadblock.
Last year, Hough’s legal team presented new evidence from her original 1994 case to the Queens County Supreme Court, where Petty eventually pleaded guilty to attempted rape in the first degree.
Jennifer Hough’s sexual assault lawsuit against Kenneth Petty has been closely watched by the media and the general public since it was first filed. Hough claims Petty sexually assaulted her in 1994, a charge for which he was convicted and served time.
Petty and Hough were both 16 at the time of the 1994 incident. The submitted exhibits included photographs of injuries to a young Hough’s face, neck, and sides, as well as a police laboratory analysis report stating that Hough’s pants and two vaginal smears “were positive for the presence of spermatozoa.”
Hough’s current lawsuit alleges that Petty and his associates, including Nicki Minaj, harassed and intimidated her to force her to retract her allegations.
However, Jennifer Hough dropped her harassment lawsuit against Nicki Minaj in August 2023. While the reasons for the dismissal are unclear, it allowed Hough to concentrate solely on the case against Petty, filing a motion requesting a judge increase the pressure on Petty to appear in person for a deposition.
The latest development comes after her lawyer abruptly terminated her July 9 deposition, claiming the questioning had become harassing. Despite this, Hough claims she sat down to be deposed for more than six hours. The lawsuit alleges that Petty intimidated and threatened her after she refused to accept a bribe to recant her claims and help him get off the National Sex Offender Registry.
“Inexplicably, Defendant Petty did not appear for today’s deposition, and Plaintiff had to incur the cost of reserving a court report and setting aside time to prepare for the deposition. Plaintiff respectfully requests that the court force defendant Petty to pay for the cost associated with intentionally failing to appear for the deposition,” Hough’s lawyer wrote.
The legal documents also request permission to file a motion to compel Petty to comply with outstanding document requests and a 60-day extension for fact discovery due to alleged delays caused by the defendant.
The ongoing lawsuit has cast a pall over Nicki Minaj’s personal life. While she was not directly involved in the case, the allegations against her husband significantly impacted her public image.
Even her nemesis, Megan Thee Stallion, referenced the case in her diss track, ‘Hiss.’
