Jury deliberating in Sean (Diddy) Combs sex trafficking trial asks to review ex-girlfriend's testimony
WARNING: This story contains allegations of sexual violence and may affect those who have experienced it or know someone impacted by it.
On the second day of deliberations, the jury in the sex trafficking trial for Sean (Diddy) Combs asked Tuesday to review critical testimony from one of the prosecution's most important witnesses: the hip-hop mogul's former longtime girlfriend, Cassie.
Jurors requested the testimony via a note to the judge at about 10:15 a.m. The jurors, who deliberated for over five hours on Monday, is weighing charges that Combs used his fame, wealth and violence to force two ex-girlfriends into drug-fuelled sex marathons with male sex workers, known as "freak-offs" or "hotel nights."
The trial, which began in early May, is being held in a lower Manhattan Federal Court in New York City. Combs has pleaded not guilty to federal charges including sex trafficking, transportation to engage in prostitution and racketeering conspiracy.
During the proceedings, the jury heard from nearly three dozen witnesses, including ex-girlfriends, former Combs employees, male escorts and federal agents.
On Tuesday, the panel of eight men and four women asked for Cassie's account of Combs beating, kicking and dragging her at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016, an incident captured in security camera footage.
They also asked to see Cassie's testimony about an incident in which she said Combs accused her of taking drugs from him and kicked her off of their yacht at the Cannes Film Festival in France in 2013. On their way back to the U.S., she testified, he threatened to release explicit videos of her having sex.
In addition, the jury asked for Cassie's and stripper Daniel Phillip's testimony about her jumping into his lap at a New York City hotel after, as Phillip testified, he suspected Combs had been slapping and slamming her around an adjacent room.
"Her whole entire body was shaking, like she was terrified," said Phillip, who was at the hotel for a sexual encounter with Cassie sometime between 2012 and 2014.
Phillip testified that he asked Cassie, the R&B singer whose real name is Casandra Ventura, why she was with Combs if he was hitting her and beating her. He said he told her she was in real danger. Cassie, he said, "basically tried to convince me that it was OK, it's OK. I'm fine, I'll be OK."
The lawyers and the judge are now reviewing transcripts from past days of testimony, and going back and forth on which sections of the transcript address the jury's ask.
The request came shortly after Combs's lawyers and prosecutors began the day haggling with Judge Arun Subramanian over a jury question left over from the end of the first day of deliberations on Monday.
Jurors ended Monday by asking the judge for clarification about what qualifies as drug distribution, an aspect of the racketeering conspiracy charge that will help determine whether Combs can be convicted or exonerated on the count.
Subramanian said he would remind jurors of the instructions he gave them on that part of the case before they started deliberating on Monday. Combs's lawyers had pushed for a more expansive response, but prosecutors argued — and Subramanian agreed — that doing so could end up confusing jurors more.
While the lawyers debated, Combs sat in court, glancing between the action at the front of the courtroom and back at his mother, Janice Combs.
Outside the courthouse, a handful of Combs supporters held signs with messages like "Free Diddy," while another had a T-shirt reading, "A freako is not a RICO" (RICO refers to the racketeering charge against Combs). There were also a few livestreamers present — non-legacy media folks who have been consistently going live on social media platforms like TikTok and YouTube from just outside the courthouse to share the most explosive details of the trial.
Prosecutors say Combs for two decades used his fame, fortune and a roster of employees and associates to help him coerce and force two different girlfriends to repeatedly perform sexually with male sex workers for days at a time while he watched and sometimes filmed the drug-fuelled events. Combs is charged with five counts — one of racketeering conspiracy, two of sex trafficking and two of transportation to engage in prostitution.
Defence lawyers contend prosecutors are trying to criminalize Combs's swinger lifestyle. If anything, they say, Combs's conduct amounted to domestic violence, not federal felonies.
Combs, 55, could face 15 years to life in prison if convicted on all charges.
Combs chose not to testify as his lawyers built their arguments for acquittal mostly through lengthy cross-examinations of dozens of witnesses called by prosecutors, including some of Combs's former employees, who testified only after being granted immunity.
Barely an hour into deliberations on Monday, the jury foreperson sent a note to the judge, saying there was one juror "who we are concerned cannot follow your honour's instructions. May I please speak with your honour or may you please interview him?"
The judge decided instead to send jurors a note reminding them of their duties to deliberate and obligation to follow his instructions on the law.
By day's end, the jury seemed back on track, sending the note about drug distribution.
If you're in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911. For support in your area, you can look for crisis lines and local services via the Ending Sexual Violence Association of Canada database.
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