This is a free article for Diddy on Trial newsletter subscribers. Sign up to get exclusive reporting and analysis throughout Sean Combs’ federal trial.
Casandra Ventura, the R&B singer and model who dated Diddy on-and-off for 10 years, returned to the witness stand for a fourth grueling day Friday. Ventura, who is eight months pregnant, faced another round of cross-examination from the rapper’s lawyers, who have attempted to portray her as a willing participant in the rapper’s drug-dazed “freak offs.”
- She testified about her texts with Diddy after he attacked her at a hotel in 2016 — an incident that was recorded on a security camera. “You always want to show me that you have the power and you knock me around,” Ventura wrote. “I’m not a rag doll I’m someone’s child.”
- Diddy’s defense lawyers attempted to link his violent behavior to drug abuse and jealousy. Ventura confirmed that Diddy once grabbed her phone out of her hand and ran away with it because he suspected she was dating an NFL player. It was part of a pattern, she said: “He took my phone, my car, my watch when he was angry.”
- Anna Estevao, the defense attorney who questioned Ventura, alluded to Diddy’s experience with bipolar disorder. It was the first time the rapper’s lawyers referenced a diagnosis during the trial. Ventura said she believed Diddy’s behavior during a dinner in Malibu before he allegedly raped her was related to that mental condition.
- Ventura said she had consensual sex with Diddy in 2018 shortly after he allegedly raped her and while she was dating Alex Fine, who is now her husband. Fine did not know Ventura was with Diddy during that encounter, she testified. Then, when Fine learned about the alleged rape, he punched a wall.
Ventura was excused as a witness around 3:20 p.m. ET. The day’s other marquee witness was Dawn Richard, a former member of two of Diddy’s musical acts: Danity Kane and Diddy — Dirty Money. Richard testified that she witnessed Diddy beat Ventura in 2009. Richard said Ditty struck Ventura with a skillet, kicked and punched her, and dragged her up some stairs.
The view from inside
By Adam Reiss and Chloe Melas
Diddy was highly engaged during Estevao’s sometimes disjointed cross-examination of Ventura. The rapper, dressed in a cream-colored shirt and khakis, frequently leaned forward to read the live transcript of Ventura’s testimony on a monitor, whispered with lead attorney Marc Agnifilo, and passed notes to Estevao while she questioned his ex-girlfriend.
Ventura answered questions calmly. She briefly broke down crying at the end of prosecutor Emily Johnson’s redirect, grabbing a tissue as she told jurors that Diddy hit her during “freak offs.” In another notable moment, Ventura described her feelings for the rapper: “I don’t hate him. I have love for the past, and what it was.”
In other news: Judge Arun Subramanian repeatedly expressed annoyance with lawyers on both sides today. When the jurors were out of the room, Subramanian scolded prosecutors for objecting to cross-examination questions without specifying their grounds. He also seemed irritated with the defense team’s start-and-stop presentation of evidence.
“We are not going to proceed in this fashion,” Subramanian said.
Subramanian profusely thanked the jurors for their first week of service before court adjourned. “You are the bedrock for democracy,” the judge told the panel of eight men and four women. He encouraged the jurors to watch the Yankees and the Knicks over the weekend.
Analysis: TK
By Danny Cevallos
In the final minutes of Ventura’s time on the stand, she testified that she expects a $10 million settlement from the hotel where Diddy beat her in 2016. (The incident was recorded on a hotel security camera.) She said on cross-examination that there were many career benefits to being Diddy’s girlfriend. She attended the Met Gala, she had access to other stars (such as Kid Cudi, Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne and Rick Ross) and she got precious studio time, too.
The defense is carefully trying to convey something through cross-examination without coming out and saying it: Ventura was with Diddy for the money and the fame. It’s a theme that can easily backfire if the jury thinks the defense handled Ventura too aggressively. But these jurors include regular people, like scientists and grocery store workers. The defense wants them to think: “The lifestyle described here is so extreme, that only someone in it for the money and the stardom would stay with the defendant.” At the same time, the defense couldn’t just come out on cross-examination and ask Ventura if she’s a gold digger.
It’s hard to say what the jurors think of her testimony. She said the right words, for the most part, but the jury also evaluated her body language and her voice, and all the intangibles that people look at when we size up one another. Determining credibility is hardly an exact science.
What’s next
Dawn Richard is expected to take the stand again Monday.
PSA: Every night during Diddy’s trial, NBC’s “Dateline” will drop special episodes of the “True Crime Weekly” podcast to get you up to speed. “Dateline” correspondent Andrea Canning chats with NBC News’ Chloe Melas and special guests — right in front of the courthouse. Listen here.
The post Cassie recalls aftermath of hotel assault and alleged rape at Diddy’s trial appeared first on NBC News.
