Jury watches explicit videos in Diddy case

On the verge of resting their enactment trafficking lawsuit against Sean "Diddy" Combs, national prosecutors connected Monday showed jurors much videos of the drug-fueled enactment marathons astatine the centre of allegations that could enactment the hip-hop mogul down bars for life. The clips, totalling astir 20 minutes of footage of alleged "freak-offs" oregon "hotel nights," bookended a prosecution lawsuit that began 7 weeks agone with jurors seeing information camera footage of Combs brutally beating his erstwhile longtime woman Cassie astatine a Los Angeles edifice successful 2016. Prosecutors are acceptable to remainder their lawsuit connected Tuesday erstwhile Combs' lawyers decorativeness cross-examining the last authorities witnesser - Joseph Cerciello, a Homeland Security Investigations cause whose grounds included spending hours speechmaking aloud substance connection exchanges, immoderate of which progressive Combs oregon different radical successful his orbit. As they questioned Cerciello, Combs' lawyers played excerpts from the videos, which were shown lone to the assemblage and the parties - not reporters oregon nationalist observers of the proceedings - due to the fact that of their graphic nature. Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey sometimes referred to the mostly 1- oregon 2-minute clips filmed by Combs arsenic "explicit" videos, a awesome for jurors to enactment connected headsets that enabled them to perceive and presumption the recordings without them being seen oregon heard by spectators successful the Manhattan courtroom.

Prosecutors person cited the drug-fueled multiday events arsenic grounds of enactment trafficking and racketeering conspiracy, saying Combs relied connected employees, associates and his concern accounts to alert antheral enactment workers to Miami, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York, wherever his unit acceptable up edifice rooms for the encounters and cleaned up afterward. Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty. He's been progressive successful his defense, penning notes to his attorneys and sometimes influencing erstwhile they halt questioning witnesses. Last week, prosecutors showed jurors astir 2 minutes of footage from 2012 and 2014 involving Cassie, a antheral enactment idiosyncratic and Combs. Cassie, an R&B vocalist whose existent sanction is Casandra Ventura, earlier testified that she participated successful hundreds of the "freak-off" events. She and Combs were successful a narration from 2007 until 2018. Cassie sued Combs successful 2023, alleging years of abuse. He settled wrong hours, and dozens of akin lawsuits followed. The Associated Press doesn't mostly place radical who accidental they are victims of intersexual maltreatment unless they travel guardant publicly, arsenic Cassie has done. Defense lawyers past week showed the assemblage astir 18 minutes of video clips from the enactment performances involving Cassie aft a lawyer said successful opening statements that the videos beryllium intersexual enactment was consensual and not grounds of a crime. On Monday, prosecutors aired astir 20 minutes of recordings from 2021 and 2022 of a azygous parent who was identified lone by the pseudonym "Jane," antheral enactment workers and Combs.

Jane testified earlier successful the proceedings for six days that she was romantically progressive with Combs from 2021 until his September apprehension astatine a New York hotel. Cerciello, the national agent, testified that dozens of the recordings from precocious 2021 until past August lasted galore hours. Comey finished questioning Cerciello successful the aboriginal day connected Monday. After a cross-examination by the defense, the prosecution was expected to rest. Closing arguments were tentatively scheduled for Thursday aft what was expected to beryllium a little defence presentation.