Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ lawyers plan to press Cassie about infidelity during cross-examination
NEW YORK AP Lawyers for Sean Diddy Combs say they ll question R B singer Cassie on Thursday about how infidelity fueled the combustible nearly -year relationship between the two as cross-examination of the prosecution s star witness begins in Combs sex trafficking trial It will be the third day on the stand for the -year-old Cassie after two days of questioning by prosecutors in a Manhattan courtroom She testified on Wednesday that Combs raped her when she broke up with him in after he locked her into a life of physical abuse by threatening to release degrading sexual videos of her Prosecutors accuse Combs of exploiting his status as a powerful music executive and entrepreneur to violently force Cassie and other women to take part in sexual encounters He is charged with crimes including racketeering and sex trafficking by force fraud or coercion Several other accusers are set to testify Combs denies all of the charges and has pleaded not guilty His attorneys acknowledge he could be violent but say the sex he and others engaged in was consensual and that nothing he did amounted to a criminal enterprise Defense attorney Teny Geragos suggested on Wednesday during a discussion between lawyers and the judge that the match plan for Thursday was changing on the fly out of necessity She didn t get into particulars but she advised Judge Arun Subramanian that the questioning of Cassie by prosecutors has gone much differently than I expected Later Combs lawyer Marc Agnifilo advised the judge that questioning Cassie about infidelities was major Everybody knows that we are going to bring up infidelities that we re going to want to bring up text messages of infidelities and these text messages are often in colorful language he announced Early Thursday the judge denied a request by defense lawyers to introduce text communications between Combs and Cassie that would include references to specific sexual acts Defense lawyers have indicated that the cross examination of Cassie that will begin Thursday morning will likely be finished by the end of Friday s court session Cassie has held up well over two days of direct questioning by prosecutors She cried several times but for the preponderance part has remained composed and matter-of-fact as she talked about particular of the greater part sensitive subjects imaginable in a courtroom packed with family and friends of Combs journalists and one row of spectator seats occupied by Cassie s supporters Cassie is in the third trimester of pregnancy with her third child Cassie stated Wednesday that Combs forced his way into her Los Angeles apartment and raped her on the living room floor after she commented she was ending their relationship Cassie also stated she didn t feel she could refuse Combs demands for her to have hundreds of encounters with male sex workers which he watched and controlled for hours and even days because he would make her look like a slut if he made the videos population I feared for my career I feared for my family It s just embarrassing It s horrible and disgusting No one should do that to anyone mentioned Cassie whose legal name is Casandra Ventura The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly as Cassie has She sued Combs in accusing him of years of physical and sexual abuse Within hours the suit was settled for million a figure Cassie disclosed for the first time Wednesday but dozens of similar legal contends followed from other women Combs has been jailed since September He faces at least years in prison if convicted The trial is expected to last about two months
