Jurors shown clips of ‘freak-offs' central to Sean Combs sex trafficking charges
The jury at Sean 'Diddy' Combs's sex trafficking trial got a glimpse of some of the 'freak-off' sex marathons at the heart of the case, with prosecutors showing excerpts of explicit videos that the hip-hop mogul recorded during the drug-fuelled sessions.
Prosecutors played portions of three sex videos recovered from a Combs-linked account on a mobile phone that his former long-time girlfriend Cassie provided to authorities, giving jurors a close-up view of the encounters they've heard about repeatedly since evidence began on May 12.
One video was from October 14 2012, the same day prosecutors say Combs had a 'freak-off' in New York City with Cassie and sex worker Sharay Hayes, known as 'The Punisher'.
Before playing the clip, prosecutors showed jurors an invoice for a stay at the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Manhattan on October 14 2012 that was booked under Combs's alias, Frank Black. A note on the invoice said the guest requested to have the room at 3am.
Prosecutors also showed jurors text messages in which Cassie, the R&B singer whose real name is Casandra Ventura, arranged the October 14 meetup with Mr Hayes.
In one message, she wrote: 'Can we actually do 3am at the Trump hotel, Columbus Circle?'
Mr Hayes replied: 'Great. I'll text when I'm on my way,' and told her his fee for the encounter was 200 dollars (£147) cash.
Jurors were also shown excerpts of videos taken on October 20 2012 and December 4 2014. Collectively, the clips shown to jurors were several minutes long, and although at least one juror winced at a video, their reactions were mostly muted.
Defence lawyers have said the videos prove that Combs was engaging in consensual sex rather than committing crimes.
Because of their graphic nature, the excerpts were available for viewing only for jurors, the prosecution and defence teams and Combs, all of whom wore headphones to hear the audio.
Reporters and members of the public were not allowed to see or hear the videos.
The videos were the most notable part of an otherwise dry day in court as prosecutors wind down their case with so-called summary witnesses — government agents who are reading aloud heaps of text messages, travel records and other document-based evidence.
After six weeks of witnesses and evidence, prosecutors said they plan to rest on Wednesday.
After that, Combs's lawyers said they will start calling witnesses.
Earlier in the trial, a forensic video expert retained by the prosecution to enhance the videos identified them by date and exhibit number. During that evidence, a prosecutor described the videos as 'sex videos'.
Until Monday, jurors had only seen still images taken from the 'freak-off' videos.
Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges after his September arrest at a New York hotel.
He was denied bail multiple times and has remained incarcerated in Brooklyn ever since.
Before the jury entered the courtroom on Monday, Judge Arun Subramanian dismissed a juror after concluding there were 'clear inconsistencies' in his answers last week and during jury selection about whether he resided in New York or with a girlfriend in New Jersey.
'Taking these all together, the record raised serious concerns as to the juror's candour and whether he shaded answers to get on and stay on the jury,' he said.
Mr Subramanian had first announced that he was dismissing the juror late on Friday, but he left open the possibility that he would question the juror a final time after defence lawyers protested, saying that dismissing the black juror and replacing him with a white juror might spoil an otherwise diverse jury.
The judge said he had decided not to question him further because it could lead to 'another set of shifting answers. In other words, there's nothing that the juror can say at this point that would put the genie back in the bottle and restore his credibility'.
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