NEW YORK — The defense in the Puff Daddy-Shyne trial got under way Thursday, as Sean "Puffy" Combs' former personal assistant testified that he saw no gun in Combs' waistband on the night of the Club New York shootings, and a security guard said the shots couldn't have come from the spot where he had seen Combs moments earlier.

Combs raised his arms while dancing on top of a table at the club, exposing his torso, said the assistant, Jason Delgado. "He was waving his hands, laughing. I saw his waist area — the top of his boxers." Combs' former weekend driver, Wardel Fenderson, had testified for the prosecution that he saw Combs tuck a gun into his waistband while sitting in the back seat of his Lincoln Navigator before entering the club. Several other witnesses had said they saw Combs holding a gun during or just before the shootings.

Another defense witness, Club New York security guard Trenton Stewart, described how Combs and bodyguard Anthony "Wolf" Jones stood directly behind him seconds before gunshots rang out.

Stewart heard shots to his left, but not from immediately behind him, he said, adding that he would have been deafened if Combs had fired while standing that close to him. One prosecution witness, shooting victim Natania Reuben, has testified that Combs fired a gun at the club. Matthew "Scar" Allen, whose argument with Combs allegedly sparked the shooting, is expected to back Reuben's account when he testifies for the prosecution as a rebuttal witness after the defense finishes its case.

Stewart acknowledged that he didn't see who fired, and that he had no idea where Combs was at the time of the shooting — he only knew where Combs stood before it began.

Before the shooting, Stewart tried to defuse the argument by asking Combs, Allen and bodyguard Anthony "Wolf" Jones to leave the area, he testified. They all refused, he said.

Stewart, a former Marine, said he believed two guns were fired, and that based on the sound of the shots, one was a larger caliber weapon than the other.

Since Combs and Jamal "Shyne" Barrow are accused of firing 9mm guns that night, that assertion appeared to back defense claims that someone else was shooting. The defense has suggested that Allen or his associates fired .40 caliber rounds, and police did find .40 caliber bullets in the club after the shooting.

Prosecutor Matthew Bogdanos has not offered an explanation for the larger-caliber bullets' presence. One of the 9mm guns in the case — the one police allegedly found sticking out from underneath the front passenger seat of Combs' Lincoln Navigator after they pulled it over — was the focus of testimony Thursday by Michael Ciravolo, president of a detective agency hired by Combs.

Ciravolo, who examined the Navigator, said it would have been impossible for Combs to push a gun through from the rear of the Navigator — where the rapper sat — to underneath the front seat.

Police witnesses have testified that Combs had been bent over underneath the front seat doing something with his hands just before he left the vehicle. Wiring and mechanisms underneath the seat would have prevented Combs from pushing a gun through, Ciravolo said. But Ciravalo acknowledged that he never tried to do it himself.

Ciravolo stood by his opinion even after Bogdanos showed him a videotape that appeared to show police officers easily pushing a gun through.

Also Thursday, another club security guard, Glen Beck, said he saw Jones dragging Combs out of Club New York after the shooting, and the pair stumbled as they ran down the stairs. "The way they fell down the stairs, if someone was carrying a gun, it would have fallen out," Beck said, adding that he didn't see a weapon.

The guard acknowledged during cross-examination, however, that if Combs was carrying a gun in a holster or in his pocket, it wouldn't have fallen out.

(Click HERE for a complete explanation of the charges in the case. Click HERE for our complete trial coverage.)