Both teams are expected to resume their cases as soon as Tuesday as Sean “Diddy” Combs’ highly public trial approaches its high-profile trial.
The jury will be tasked with deciding the fate of the music mogul, who faces life in prison, if found guilty, on Thursday for closing arguments, which are tentatively scheduled to start.
The defense’s 34th and last witnesses are currently on the stand, and they said on Monday that they do not intend to call their own witnesses for testimony in Manhattan federal court.
The prosecution is tasked with proving guilt, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless jurors decide otherwise, so it’s not unusual for defense teams to choose not to proceed with a case.
Read more about the Combs Trial: Takeaways From The First Week of Testimony in Sean ‘, Diddy ’.
In an effort to impose his dominance on an organization made up of high-ranking employees, including those who bribed, arson, and kidnapping, Combs and his allies used a web of witnesses, phone records, and travel arrangements to support his case for seven weeks of testimony.
The artist and businessman allegedly trafficked men and women for “freak-offs” or “hotel nights” of drug-fueled sexual marathons, sometimes days-long ones, for the prosecution.
Jurors have watched a number of sexually explicit videos during some of the events, and some of them were recorded.
Government attorneys are compiling reams of text messages and other records for jurors to review, along with photos of dozens of freak-offs, which they claim also reveal prostitution and trafficking arrangements.
The 55-year-old denies the accusations.
No defense defense witnesses?
The defense’s choice to not summon witnesses may indicate that they believe their inquiries into government witnesses may have exposed enough of a Combs case.
It could also indicate that no witnesses have been contacted to provide assistance.
They did state that they would be preparing to testify before resting on some matters.
What the prosecution has called sex trafficking, according to Combs’ attorneys, was mutual.
Three women gave detailed accounts of terrifying abuse that ranged from sexual to physical to emotional.
In a civil lawsuit filed by Combs’ girlfriend Casandra Ventura in 2023, which was settled in court without a hearing, the singer opened the floodgates to a ferocious stream of accusations against the once-powerful music industry powerhouse.
She testified in the trial’s key witnesses, and witnesses to the trial’s trial repeatedly received infamous surveillance footage of Combs beating and dragging Ventura viciously in a hotel.
In exchange for the disturbing tape, which CNN published last year, a hotel security guard claimed to have received $100, 000 in a brown paper bag from Combs.
Jurors are not sequestered, but they are instructed not to consume any media related to the case every day, which is a formidable task given how prevalent news of the trial has become on both traditional and social media.
Source: Channels TV
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