Diddy trial latest: Jury expected to start deliberations - after defence tactic upped the stakes

Sky News

6 hours ago

Court is now in session
All the lawyers for the prosecution and defence are at their seats and proceedings are under way.
In the courtroom's gallery, the second row behind Sean "Diddy" Combs is filled with his family members, with his mother, Janice, on the end.
Members of the jury take their seats and Judge Arun Subramanian welcomes them back after the weekend.
He is now going to proceed with jury instructions, he tells them, which detail the law as it applies to the charges in this case. This is expected to take more than an hour.
Diddy arrives in the courtroom
Sean "Diddy" Combs has arrived in court, wearing light-coloured trousers and a light sweater today.
This is the start of the eighth week of his trial - potentially the week that jurors deliver their verdict.
As usual, Combs is smiling as he walks into the courtroom, and hugs his lawyers including Marc Agnifilo, Brian Steel and Alexandra Shapiro.
The rapper makes a praying hands sign as he sits down and puts his hand over his heart as he looks at his family supporting him.
A reminder of the charges - and potential sentence
Sean "Diddy" Combs is facing five criminal counts. Racketeering conspiracy
Two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion
Two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution
The 55-year-old has strenuously and consistently denied the allegations against him, and pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Among the witnesses who have given evidence during the trial are three alleged victims - Combs's former long-term partner Cassie Ventura, another former partner who testified under the pseudonym Jane, and a former employee who testified under the pseudonym Mia.
Racketeering conspiracy carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, the US Attorney's Office said when the first charges were announced in September 2024.
The sex trafficking charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison, while the transportation for purposes of prostitution charges carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Welcome back to our coverage of the Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial
We're expecting the jury to return to the court in New York at 9am local time - 2pm in the UK.
Judge Arun Subramanian said on Friday he would give the jury up to two hours of instructions, before sending them out to deliberate on the case.
If the jury is still deliberating later this week, the court won't sit on Friday - 4 July - a holiday in the US.
Stay with us and we'll bring you the latest, including the verdicts when they come.
Defence gives closing arguments - here's a recap
Today, we saw the defence give their final argument in the sex-trafficking trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs.
It follows seven weeks of testimony against the hip-hop mogul, during which we've heard from 34 witnesses.
For a full recap, click on the link below...
Why Diddy's defence team chose not to call their own witnesses - ramping up the stakes for rapper and his accusers
By Michael Blair, senior news editor, in New York City
After seven weeks of gruelling evidence, it raised a few eyebrows that Sean "Diddy" Combs's defence team called none of its own witnesses and will make a closing argument that will last just a few hours.
The prosecution had a line-up of 34 witnesses, including two ex-girlfriends, male escorts, former employees, and artists, including rapper Kid Cudi.
What the court heard was often disturbing, befitting the counts of sex trafficking, transportation for prostitution and racketeering conspiracy.
The government painted a picture of a music mogul whose life of celebrity and glamour concealed one of abuse, violence and coercion.
The federal prosecutor summed up their marathon case as one against a man who "used power, violence and fear to get what he wanted".
So why did the Diddy defence team not try to match the prosecution in sheer scale?
Well, its entire argument is that the prosecution has provided a host of unreliable witnesses with their own personal motives.
Since the trial began in May, they have built an entire defence through cross-examination, discrediting each account, arguing that the sexual encounters depicted were consensual.
In short, they already have their witnesses.
The court must decide that Diddy is guilty "beyond reasonable doubt". The defence's mission will have been to sow just enough doubt in the minds of the jury members that they can't confidently convict him.
They must reach a unanimous verdict. If not, a retrial would loom, arguably putting the prosecutors in a stronger position. If there is a second round, they will go into it knowing the defence's arguments.
For Diddy and his accusers, the stakes could not be higher.
Week seven of the trial comes to an end
Court is now over for the day.
Judge Arun Subramanian tells the jury to return on Monday morning at 9am local time, which is 2pm here in the UK.
He will then give them up to two hours of instructions before they can start discussing evidence.
The 12-person jury will then begin its deliberations later on Monday morning.
Next week is a short one, with the court not in session on 4 July.
Diddy 'is not a god' and 'in this courtroom he stands equal before the law'
Prosecutor Maurene Comey says Diddy has spent the last 20 years believing he is "above the law".
She says he has got away with "crime after crime," listing him allegedly kidnapping Capricorn Clark, taking drugs and "giving them out like candy" around the country, forcing Mia to sleep in a room without a lock, beating Cassie in front of others, and bribing hotel security – all without consequence.
She says he was "untouchable in his mind, a god among men," adding, "and who would ever stand up to a god?"
She says that for 20 years Diddy has "got away with his crimes," adding decisively: "That ends in this courtroom, the defendant is not a god, he is a person, and in this courtroom he stands equal before the law.
"Overwhelming evidence proves that it's time to find him guilty, and time to hold him accountable."
With that, the prosecution rebuttal is over after one hour and 17 minutes, and the court is adjourned.
Two examples of sex trafficking by force to end the rebuttal
The prosecution says it will end by talking about two specific incidents.
Firstly, the surveillance video that captured Diddy's beating of Cassie at the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles in 2016. Comey says while the defence is trying to say the argument was about a phone, it was all about forcing Cassie to return to perform in a "freak off".
The second incident is a violent physical altercation with Jane in June 2024. She says Diddy "went nuts," and while Jane should not have hit him, he should not have kicked down a door, kicked her in the body and face, dragged her by the hair and slapped her hard.
She says: 'Jane may have started that fight, but he finished it with a vengeance,' literally beating her into submission. She was given ecstasy and forced to perform in a "freak off" shortly after.
'Abuse mixed with affection' left women 'trauma bonded'
As for the defence's argument that the "freak offs" were "beautiful", assistant US attorney Maurene Comey says: "They are not beautiful evenings, they are set up for one man's pleasure, for one man's enjoyment.
"It is the same performance, days upon days covered in oil, high on drugs, having sex over and over again. The videos only tell you part of the story."
Describing Diddy's coercion of the women into taking part in the "freak offs," Comey says: "The defendant took this to an extreme point, by the time he got to the InterContinental [hotel in Los Angeles] he was so far past the line he couldn't even see it."
Mocking the defence's suggestion that Cassie was the winner of a prize, she asks: "What was her prize? A black eye, a gash in her head? UTIs? Getting urinated in your mouth? How could anyone consider that a prize? It's ridiculous."
Citing a "cycle of abuse," she says the women "felt trapped" and were "trauma bonded," staying with Diddy because he "mixed his abuse with affection".