Las Vegas, NV – May 15, 2022 Billboard Music Awards – Illustrated: Sean “Diddy” Combs arrives at the Billboard Music Awards 2022 held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 15, 2022.
Christopher Polk / NBC / NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
hide
tilting legend
Christopher Polk / NBC / NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
Sean Combs’ defense team set their file in less than 30 minutes today (June 24). COMBS – which was reprimanded by judge Arun Subramanian for having their heads on the jurors while his defense lawyers have contrainded witnesses to the government – did not take a stand.
The 55-year-old hip-hop magnate was mostly silent in almost seven weeks of trial procedures. Tuesday afternoon, he was held to answer several questions from judge Subramanian concerning his right to testify in his own trial. “I’m fine, your honor,” Combs to the judge told. “I wanted to say thank you, you are doing a great job.”
Subramanian asked Combres if he had discussed the position of the witness with his lawyers and if he had made a decision by himself. Combs confirmed that he had chosen not to testify. “It’s my decision, your honor,” he stammered. “It’s only my decision. I mean, it’s my decision with my lawyers.”
The discussion intervened after Combs’ defense lawyer Alexandra Shapiro has moved to the five accusations that Combres is faced: two sex trafficking leaders, two prostitution and a racketeer conspiracy heads. Shapiro argued that the government, which rested on its file against Combs earlier in the afternoon, had not respected the burden of proof. Prosecutors accused Combres of leading a criminal business that has facilitated and concealed abuses for decades. He pleaded not guilty of all accusations.
For a month and a half, Combs sat among his nine lawyers in a federal hearing room in the lower Manhattan while more than two dozen witnesses who include ex-girlfriends, former employees and agents responsible for the application of laws testified against him. His defense lawyers, on the other hand, took around 25 minutes to present their case.
“Sean Combs is a complicated man, but this is not a complicated case,” said defense lawyer Teny Geragos during the opening arguments of the trial.
The brief defense of the Combs team largely underlined a recurring theme which began with the opening declarations and continued throughout its counter-examination during the case of the government: “unconventional” but consensual relations between the authorized adults who were marked by jealousy, and not coercion.
Although many key events in the case of the accusation are not disputed – including an attack on the girlfriend of the Cassie Ventura era in a Los Angeles hotel in 2016, he took video and other cases of violence – the Combs team painted a different image of their meaning. Defense lawyers admitted that the combs could be guilty of domestic violence and physical assault, but say that it does not contrast neither sexually nor did traffic.
Without calling witnesses, the defense has chosen to admit evidence in order to assert their cause. They read several Ventura SMS saying to the combs she loved and appreciated it, including a 2017 message in which she said that she was happy to see how their relationship had increased over time. Defense lawyers then presented a document highlighting minor inconsistencies in the testimony of several government witnesses, including Capricorn Clark, a former combat employee who testified under the pseudonym “Mia” and Bryana Bongolan – The three women were close to Cassie Ventura during her relationship with combs and corroborates his pretensions of violence and control. With this, the defense posed its case.
Throughout the counter-examination, the defense showed and questioned Ventura on countless text messages in which it seems to help to plan and coordinate the so-called “monsters”. Ventura replied that Combs was expecting that she settles down and participated in these meetings, and she feared for her safety if she did not comply with her requests. The security video of the 2016 hotel, she said, was taken when she was trying to flee a sexual performance that had become violent. The combs can be seen in the video that approached her as she approaches an elevator hall, striking it and striking it and trying to bring it back in the direction of their hotel room.
During the opening arguments, the lawyers for the defense of Combs said that the magnate was often involved in multiple romantic relationships at the same time, which attracted intense jealousy and competition between its friends. The defense argued in the case of the two former Combs partners who accused him of sex trafficking: Cassie Ventura, who dated the magnate until 2018, and “Jane”, a woman who was involved in combs to her arrest and her accusation act in September 2024. (She testified by using a pseudonym to protect her identity. said she didn’t want to have sex with other men.
According to the defense of Combres, Ventura and Jane agreed with unconventional “sexual” fantasies of Combs because they wanted to get closer to him and deepen their respective relationships. During the counter-examination of witnesses, they affirmed that the inclusion of other men in these activities was part of a “way of life of swingers” which deployed in the intimacy of the Chamber of Combs. While the prosecutors crossed great lengths to describe the details of what the Combs asked during these nights – many bottles of baby oil, candles, red lighting and specific sorts of lingerie outfits for his friends – the lawyers of the defense of Combs point out that none of these things come back to illegal activities.
“You are not here to judge him for his sexual preferences,” Geragos told the jury at the start of the trial.
Towards the end of the government’s case, prosecutors showed videos that seemed to be combs and Ventura these nights. They also showed explicit videos from Jane. The jurors were invited to wear headphones and privacy guards were implemented on their computer screens. The press and the public were not allowed to observe the exhibitions, which have been admitted as sealed evidence.
While the prosecutors showed short clips of a duration between 30 and 60 seconds, the defense lawyer Teny Geragos asked to play longer selections of the videos, some of which lasted up to five minutes. Defense argued that videos are solid proof of sexual activities arranged between consenting adults, and that these were magnetic but toxic relationships that do not add up to loads that the borders of Combs.
Closing arguments are expected to start on Thursday.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 will be released on November 14, 2025, and there…
Tom Cruise would have refused an offer from President Donald Trump. Halle Berry shared photos…
The retirement funds sponsored by the employer could soon have options such as investment capital…
Live cat: packers vs colts | Pre-season week 2 Green Bay Packers - Packers.comWhich channel…
The first Fatah leader, Marwan Barghouti, appears before the Jerusalem court in 2012. Bernat Arangue…
29 packers not playing against the colts Green Bay Packers - Packers.comHow to watch the…