Warning: The video above and story beneath comprise graphic content material.
The R&B singer Cassie returns to the witness stand Friday for extra cross-examination by the protection workforce for ex-boyfriend, Sean “Diddy” Combs, with prosecutors insisting cross-examination end by the top of the day over considerations that the pregnant Cassie is close to the start of her third youngster.
Cassie has been testifying within the Manhattan courtroom since Tuesday about Combs forcing her to have intercourse with male escorts. Prosecutors stated in an in a single day letter to the decide it appeared protection attorneys had been intent on making Cassie to return to the witness stand on Monday, and so they had been frightened there was a threat of a mistrial if she went into labor over the weekend.
A lawyer for Combs claimed on Thursday that prosecutors purposely delayed calling Cassie to testify till Tuesday, after two different witnesses took the stand, in order that the protection would have much less time to cross-examine her. Within the in a single day letter, prosecutors shot again that it appeared protection attorneys had been making an attempt to “filibuster.”
After the jury left the courtroom on Thursday, Decide Arun Subramanian instructed protection attorneys they’d have as much as 5 hours to query Cassie on Friday. Prosecutors stated they anticipated to have not more than a half hour of questions for Cassie as soon as the protection is completed.
Prosecutors requested the decide to pressure the cross examination to finish Friday, saying protection attorneys can have had a number of hours longer to query Cassie than the federal government took in its direct examination. The decide requested Combs’ attorneys Friday morning if they’d any problem ending by the top of the day, however they didn’t straight reply the query.
Prosecutors accuse Combs of exploiting his standing as a strong music government to violently pressure Cassie and different girls into marathon encounters with intercourse employees he referred to as “freak-offs,” which generally lasted days. He’s additionally accused of utilizing his entourage and workers to facilitate unlawful actions, together with prostitution-related transportation and coercion, which is a key ingredient of the federal prices.
Combs has pleaded not responsible to federal intercourse trafficking and racketeering prices. His protection says that, whereas he may very well be violent, nothing he did amounted to a felony enterprise. Combs insists all of the intercourse within the freak-offs was consensual.
Throughout cross-examination on Thursday, Combs’ attorneys sought to painting Cassie to the jury as a prepared and keen participant within the music mogul’s sexual way of life, by having her learn aloud her messages to him together with some that confirmed her expressing enthusiasm for the drug-fueled group intercourse.
Cassie stated Combs locked in a lifetime of abuse by threatening to launch movies of her throughout these encounters, and testified Wednesday that Combs raped her when she broke up with him in 2018.
She sued Combs in 2023, accusing him of years of bodily and sexual abuse. Inside hours, the go well with was settled for $20 million — a determine Cassie disclosed for the primary time Wednesday — however dozens of comparable authorized claims adopted from different girls. It additionally touched off a regulation enforcement investigation into Combs that has culminated on this month’s trial.
Combs, 55, has been jailed since September. He faces at the least 15 years in jail if convicted.
In the event you or somebody you realize is experiencing home violence, contact the Nationwide Home Violence Hotline by calling 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), visiting www.thehotline.org or texting LOVEIS to 22522.
Assets for victims of sexual assault can be found by the Nationwide Sexual Violence Assets Middle and the Nationwide Sexual Assault Phone Hotline at 800-656-4673.
