NEW YORK (AP) — The jury at Sean “Diddy” Combs ’ sex trafficking trial got a glimpse Monday at 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-fueled sessions.
Prosecutors played portions of three sex videos recovered from a Combs-linked account on a cellphone that his former longtime girlfriend Cassie provided to authorities, giving jurors a close-up view of the encounters they’ve heard about repeatedly since testimony kicked off on May 12.
One video was from Oct. 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 an Oct. 14, 2012, stay at the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Manhattan that was booked under Combs’ alias, Frank Black. A note on the invoice said the guest requested to have the room at 3 a.m.
Prosecutors also showed jurors text messages in which Cassie, the R&B singer whose real name is Casandra Ventura, arranged the Oct. 14 meetup with Hayes. In one message, she wrote: “Can we actually do 3 a.m. at the Trump hotel, Columbus Circle?” Hayes replied: “Great. I’ll text when I’m on my way,” and told her his fee for the encounter was $200 cash.
Jurors were also shown excerpts of videos taken on Oct. 20, 2012, and Dec. 4, 2014. Collectively, the clips shown to jurors were several minutes long. Defense 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 defense teams and Combs, all of whom wore headphones to hear the audio portion. 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’ lawyers said they’ll 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 testimony, 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 at a federal lockup in Brooklyn ever since.
Before the jury entered the courtroom 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 candor and whether he shaded answers to get on and stay on the jury,” he said.
Subramanian had first announced late Friday that he was dismissing the juror, but he left open the possibility that he would question the juror a final time after defense lawyers protested, saying that dismissing the Black juror and replacing him with a white man 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.”
Michael R. Sisak And Larry Neumeister, The Associated Press
