The first day of the sex trafficking trial of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is in many ways a preview of what can be expected from the team of prosecutors and the defense.
In the morning, Judge Arun Subramanian finished seating the jury of 12 jurors and six alternates, then it was time for the prosecution and defense to make their opening statements.
Prosecutor Emily Johnson began by describing Diddy as a ‘larger than life’ figure, and a ‘leader of a criminal enterprise’ that used violence and threats to sexually exploit women.
She told the jury that his former girlfriend Cassie Ventura was brutally beaten after Diddy learned she had a new man in her life – ‘kicking her in the back and flinging her around like a rag doll’.
He also kept her silent by threatening to release a video of her having sex with male escorts.
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NBC News reported:
“’He sometimes called himself the king and expected to be treated like one’, Johnson said, ‘to cater to all his desires’. She added: ‘He used his companies to manipulate women, forcing them with male escorts to have sex while he watched. He and his inner circle made sure he got everything he wanted’.”
Combs allegedly forced Cassie to participate in his ‘freak offs’, out-of-control sex parties that included sex workers.
“’Cassie tried her first freak off because she loved him and wanted to make him happy. … If Cassie didn’t do what he wanted, the consequences were severe’, Johnson said.”
Johnson listed the many allegations of abuse that allegedly Cassie endured – including the infamous surveillance video showing Diddy beating her on a hotel lobby.
BREAKING
CNN has obtained footage of Diddy repeatedly beating his then girlfriend Cassie in a hotel hallway.
https://t.co/PdMnMauy40— MDN NEWS (@MDNnewss) May 17, 2024
The prosecution set the tone for the trial, by warning jurors that troubling evidence of ‘freak offs’ would be shown.
“’Some of the details of what happened to them will be hard to hear’, Johnson said of victims. ‘He used lies, drugs, threats and violence to force and coerce first Cassie and later Jane to have sex with him in front of male escorts’.”
Combs and his bodyguards bought what they thought was the only copy of the hotel beating footage, with ‘a brown paper bag full of $100,000 in cash’.
Other witnesses will include a single mother, who prosecutors are calling by the pseudonym ‘Jane’, and Mia, Combs’ personal assistant for years.
“’She [Mia] is just beginning to grapple with the times he forced himself on her sexually, she wanted to keep the secret to her grave’, Johnson said. ‘They worked punishing hours for the defendant without sleep … they were expected to keep quiet of what they saw and heard in the defendants homes’, Johnson added.”
The prosecution ended by asking jurors to ‘pay close attention to the evidence, follow the judge’s instructions on the law, use and trust [their] common sense’.
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The post Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sex Trafficking Trial, Day One: Prosecution Makes Their Opening Statements, Warn Jury Some of the Evidence ‘Will Be Hard to Hear’ appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.