NEW YORK – Both parties have rested in the trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs, and now lawyers will address jurors directly with marathon closing arguments.
Music mogul Combs, 55, faces federal charges of racketeering, sex trafficking, and transportation with intent of prostitution. He denies all charges and faces life in prison if convicted.
As the final stages of the at-times tumultuous proceedings approach, here are takeaways from the Manhattan trial.
Throughout the prosecution’s nearly seven-week case, three women took the stand to describe harrowing details of graphic sexual assault, including rape.
The first was Casandra Ventura, the singer who dated Combs for 11 years. She made her dramatic turn as a star witness last month while eight months pregnant with her third child.
She recounted degrading, drug-fueled, frequently filmed sex parties with escorts she said Combs coerced her into, and also told jurors he raped her near the end of their relationship.
Jurors have repeatedly watched disturbing surveillance footage of Combs brutally beating and dragging Ventura, a video already seared into the public consciousness after CNN published it last year.
A former assistant of Combs testified under the name Mia, and described trying to protect Ventura from Combs’s fits of rage. Mia told jurors she personally endured abuse, including rape, from Combs.
A third woman, Jane, also testified of orchestrated sex parties with paid escorts. She said she felt “obligated” to acquiesce to Combs’s desires, for “fear of losing the roof over my head” that he was bankrolling.
