Federal prosecutors in New York are anticipated to relaxation their case Tuesday in opposition to Sean “Diddy” Combs, whereas the music mogul’s protection workforce intends to supply no witnesses of its personal, bringing the sprawling racketeering conspiracy and intercourse trafficking trial to an finish before anticipated.
That Combs’ protection workforce would determine to name nobody was surprising however removed from uncommon, authorized specialists say.
“It’s extra doubtless than not at a trial that the protection is just not going to name any witnesses,” mentioned Mitchell Epner, a former federal prosecutor for the District of New Jersey who now practices legal protection in New York. “So what chances are you’ll hear the protection counsel say throughout closing arguments is that the prosecution’s witnesses ‘made our case. We didn’t have a burden to show our case, and the cross-examination of their witnesses makes it clear that we’re proper they usually’re flawed.’”
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Because the trial started greater than six weeks in the past, jurors heard from 34 witnesses who testified to the federal government’s declare that Combs, the Unhealthy Boy Information founder, rapper and entrepreneur, leveraged his companies as a “legal enterprise” to sexually abuse and exploit ladies for many years. A jury of eight males and 4 ladies reviewed reams of proof, together with textual content messages, movies and receipts, meant to implicate Combs.
His attorneys had mentioned final week that they’d about three witnesses they may name, together with a former vice chairman of operations at Unhealthy Boy Leisure. However lead protection lawyer Marc Agnifilo clarified Monday to U.S. District Decide Arun Subramanian that his workforce will as an alternative submit its personal proof and stipulate a number of points earlier than closing arguments, which may start as quickly as Thursday.
After the prosecution rests, the protection can also be anticipated to ask Subramanian to dismiss the case completely — a typical request at that time within the trial however one that’s hardly ever profitable.
Authorized specialists say Subramanian ought to instruct jurors to not give much less weight to the protection for placing on no witnesses as a result of the burden of proof past an affordable doubt nonetheless falls on the prosecution.
Whereas Epner mentioned the jurors “shouldn’t take note of the variety of witnesses both facet places on,” they’re additionally “human beings, they usually’re going to concentrate and be curious as to why they didn’t hear sure folks testify.”
What the prosecution should show
Combs, 55, has pleaded not responsible to at least one depend of racketeering conspiracy; two counts of intercourse trafficking by power, fraud or coercion; and two counts of transportation to have interaction in prostitution. He faces a prolonged jail sentence if discovered he’s responsible of even one cost.
Federal prosecutors have efficiently used racketeering costs, extra generally related to organized crime rings, lately in opposition to high-profile figures accused of intercourse offenses, together with the R&B singer R. Kelly and NXIVM cult chief Keith Raniere. (Agnifilo represented Raniere in his 2019 trial.)
The federal indictment in opposition to Combs particularly refers to 4 ladies who accuse him of sexual abuse and alleges a racketeering conspiracy by which an array of predicate offenses, or crimes, have been dedicated, together with intercourse trafficking, pressured labor, narcotics offenses, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice.
On the trial’s begin, the R&B singer Cassie, Combs’ former girlfriend, testified over a number of days about drug-dazed marathon intercourse classes, referred to as “freak offs,” that she mentioned Combs orchestrated for her with male escorts.
Her profession suffered because the “freak offs,” she testified, “turned a job.”
Some authorized specialists who weren’t initially satisfied that the testimony from Cassie, whose actual title is Casandra Ventura, quantities to a racketeering conspiracy, say the prosecution placed on a wide-ranging case.
“I understood why there was a response early on of ‘The place’s the proof of the conspiracy?’ — I didn’t see it, both,” mentioned Jennifer Beidel, a former assistant U.S. lawyer within the Southern District of New York. “If the jury was known as to deliberate after week two or week three, would they’ve convicted on the racketeering? Most likely not. Now, it may occur.”
And whereas three ladies testified in opposition to Combs — Ventura, a former assistant utilizing the pseudonym “Mia” and an ex-girlfriend going by “Jane” — the costs aren’t tied to the accusers as people, so jurors can consider their claims individually or as a complete.
“One would possibly assume Cassie is credible however determine Jane isn’t compelling,” Beidel mentioned. “However even when they don’t discover one compelling, there nonetheless might be sufficient to convict with the best way that is charged.”
The federal racketeering statute requires the federal government to show at the very least two predicate acts occurred, however jurors do not need to agree on which of them they’re, Beidel mentioned. If some jurors don’t consider the allegations of intercourse trafficking as a result of they assume the sexual relationships between Combs and the ladies have been consensual, because the protection has advised, the prosecution introduced “a number of other ways every juror may get to the predicate act needed” for racketeering, she added.
Key testimony might have superior the prosecution’s case, authorized specialists say.
Grammy-winning rapper Child Cudi, who was a romantic rival of Combs’, testified in regards to the firebombing of his Porsche in 2012. Cudi, whose actual title is Scott Mescudi, mentioned Combs broke into his dwelling within the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles within the weeks earlier than the alleged act of arson on his automotive.
A former private assistant of Combs, Capricorn Clark, mentioned Combs was armed with a gun when he kidnapped her to go together with him to confront Cudi whereas additionally threatening to kill him.
One other former worker of Combs, George Kaplan, testified about appearing as a drug courier and stocking lodge rooms the place “freak offs” have been held with the mandatory child oil and candles.
In the meantime, testimony from Eddy Garcia, a safety supervisor at a Los Angeles lodge the place Combs was seen on safety video beating Ventura in 2016, centered on an allegation that Combs was determined to get the only real copy of the video. Garcia mentioned that Combs paid $100,000 in money, which was divided amongst members of the lodge’s safety workforce, and that he signed a nondisclosure settlement that known as for his silence in what might be examples of bribery and obstruction of justice, based on authorized specialists.
The federal government started to wind down its case with a U.S. lawyer’s workplace particular agent, Deleassa Penland, who went over flight data belonging to Jules Theodore. Prosecutors say that Theodore, a male escort, was typically employed to have interaction in “freak offs” with Combs and Ventura and that he traveled between New York and Los Angeles. Penland testified that bank card costs have been paid off by a Signature Checking account held by Unhealthy Boy Leisure Worldwide.
The prosecution’s line of questioning appeared to attempt to bolster the 2 counts of transportation to have interaction in prostitution that Combs additionally faces, authorized specialists say.
Protection might sow doubt throughout closings
Throughout cross-examination, protection legal professionals prompted some authorities witnesses to say they nonetheless admire Combs, loved working for him and have been testifying solely as a result of they have been subpoenaed.
Ventura mentioned throughout her cross-examination that she doesn’t hate Combs: “I’ve love for the previous and what it was.”
Mark Zauderer, a veteran trial and appellate lawyer in New York, mentioned the protection’s resolution to not name anybody to the stand signifies it has “concluded that the testimony of further witnesses is not going to assist Combs.”
“On this circumstance, the protection will place all of its eggs in a single basket, arguing to the jury that the federal government has did not show the weather of its [racketeering] case past an affordable doubt,” Zauderer mentioned.
He added that not calling Combs is a method that his protection is betting will repay.
“He can’t testify with out being subjected to a withering cross-examination about different unhealthy acts, all of which may expose him to civil legal responsibility in lawsuits introduced by others,” Zauderer mentioned.
Epner mentioned the protection might use its closing arguments to counsel not solely that the federal government’s witnesses have been useful to Combs but additionally that key witnesses have been merely not dependable.
“The protection goes to be about attacking the credibility of the prosecution’s witnesses,” Epner mentioned. “The factor that’s completely clear to me is that Mia and Jane have been subjected to extra cross-examination and, it seems from press stories, extra damaging cross-examination than Cassie.”
Protection lawyer Nicole Clean Becker, who helped symbolize R. Kelly at his 2021 intercourse trafficking trial, mentioned it’ll even be vital for the protection to distance Combs from a number of the selections that led to the alleged crimes.
“If he seems like a kingpin,” Clean Becker mentioned, “it’s very straightforward for a jury to test the responsible field.”
Combs has had an “uphill battle” since earlier than the trial, she added, as he faces a slew of lawsuits which have included accusations of rape and sexual assault. He has vigorously denied such allegations and accused varied plaintiffs of pursuing fast “paydays.”
“The prosecution threw in witness after witness — that may be a tough problem for the protection to rebut, and the playing cards are stacked in opposition to them,” Clean Becker mentioned. “That’s the best way the feds roll. They don’t come after you until they consider they received you.”
