Sean “Diddy” Combs will have the support of his family when the initial statements in their Judgment for sex trafficking start this Monday (12) in the center of Manhattan, USA.
“He keeps faith and is ready to finally be able to present his side of history in court,” a source close to the Combs family told CNN . “It was a long wait.”
At least six of his seven children will be in court when his father’s high -risk trial will start.
The youngest daughter of Combs, Love, is only two years old, so it is unclear if she will be in court, the source said, but her adult sons – the children Quincy, Justin and Christian; Daughters chances and twins Jessie and D’Lila-along with Comb’s mother, Janice, and some of her children’s mothers plan to be present to support him on Monday.
Combs will have at least some family members in court every day of the trial, which should last approximately eight weeks, according to the source. “The family is united,” he added. “Everyone is optimistic. Everyone keeps the faith.”
The person acknowledged that the last eight months, with Combs detained before the trial, were “difficult.”
“It was extremely humiliating and a shock of reality” for the troubled tycoon of music, the source of Combs in prison told, noting that he lived a luxury life and freedom to make decisions for more than three decades-a remarkable contrast to be confined to a cell as detainee 37452-054.
Combs spent much of his time in prison preparing for his trial, talking to his defense team and his family, according to the source.
If convicted, Combs may be sentenced to life imprisonment. He declared himself innocent from accusations that include conspiracy of extortion, sexual traffic and transport for prostitution.
Combs has been arrested in September 2024 and has been detained at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center ever since.
He had the bail denied three times, despite his lawyers’ efforts to keep him under house arrest as his trial was approaching. Prosecutors prevailed in their arguments that Combs represented a “danger to the community”, claiming in court documents that he paid other detainees to use his telephone accounts in prison to avoid monitoring and tried to manipulate backwitches of the grids.
The prosecution is expected to present up to four key witnesses who will witness against Combs, including their ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, who will be among the first witnesses called on Monday, promoters revealed last week.
Defense Strategy
If the previous arguments of their legal team serve as an appointment, a comprehensive theme of the Combs Defense Strategy is that all accusations related to the accusations were consensual – so even if these relationships were sometimes toxic, Comb defense would argue that it cannot be criminally held responsible.
Several of the key witnesses were characterized by the defense as “long-term ex-girlfriend.” When the government indicated Combs with new accusations last month, its lawyers said to CNN : “This was your private sex life, defined by consent, not coercion.”
Prosecutors claimed in their complaint that Combs commanded a criminal company, using their position of power to force victims to engage in sexual acts against their will, often “under the pretext of a romantic relationship.” Prosecutors said that during these meetings, known as “freak offs,” women were drugged and forced to have sex with prostitutes. Some of the meetings were recorded on video and lasted days, according to prosecutors.
In a bail request of October 2024 – which was eventually denied by the judge – Comb lawyers wrote: “Mr. Combs believes that evidence will show that, as such activities occurred, all individuals who participated were adults voluntarily involved in consensual sex.” In this document, Comb lawyers described their relationship with Ventura as “frequently mutually toxic.”
The importance of Cassie Ventura’s testimony
In a civil proceedings that was resolved one day after its registration in November 2023, Ventura claimed that Combs raped it in 2018 and submitted it to years of repeated physical abuse and others during his relationship.
Among the topics that will probably be raised in Ventura’s testimony in the criminal trial is the 2016 Hotel Surveillance filming – first published by CNN – Showing combing, kicking and dragging Ventura.
Despite the various attempts of Comb lawyers to exclude the images, Judge Arun Subramanian determined last month that they could be shown to the jury during the trial.
In the court proceeding of October 2024, Comb lawyers stated that the violence shown in the surveillance video was the result of “jealousy and infidelity”.
“My behavior in that video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in that video,” Combs said in a shared recorded statement on Instagram in May 2024, days after CNN display the images of the incident.
Several possible jurors who remain in the jury group-which will be finalized and sworn in Monday morning before the initial statements-said during the national team that had seen the surveillance video.
In a highly disclosed case with a famous defendant, the Combs legal team may face a difficult court battle, according to Elie Honig, a senior legal analyst at CNN and former state and federal promoter.
“I would say that Combs press coverage has been extremely negative, and I think this is a concern for the defense,” said Honig. “You read on the accusation about these wild sexual parties, the thousand bottles of baby oil, the so -called ‘freak offs’. But the main question is whether the general conduct of Combs – regardless of what you think of it – fits the specific federal crimes that have been imputed here.”
The defense also claimed, in the same process as October 2024, that it has “numerous written communications” that “tend to deny any lack of consent and any coercion” in relation to sexual activity between Ventura and Combs, citing evidence that show “a long -term love relationship that has become tense for mutual infidelity and jealousy.”
Comb lawyers stated that “overwhelming” written communications between Combs and Ventura describe that their “consensual sexual relationship included communications about their mutual decision to bring a third person to their intimacy.”
Comb’s defense cited interviews with “half a dozen” male escorts who participated in the “Freak Off” and allegedly said that “they never witnessed anything remotely not consensual,” according to the process.
THE CNN He informed earlier this month that at least one male professional will testify as a prosecution witness against Combs.
In court last week, Comb lawyers said they planned to argue that Ventura was violent with Combs during their relationship, which lasted approximately 11 years from 2007 to 2018.
“We will take the position that there was mutual violence in their relationship,” said defense attorney Marc Agnifilo in court. “That there were aggressions on both sides,” added agnifilo. “We will probably refer to this as domestic violence.”
Defense lawyers have described Ventura, who is pregnant with their third child and scheduled for birth next month, as a “strong” person with “a violent nature”, which they claim to discredit the statement that Combs “coerce” her sexual activity.
The Subramanian judge questioned this defense strategy in court last Friday. “Strong people can be coerced, just as weak people,” said the judge, adding that he would decide on the matter on Monday.
Ventura’s lawyer, Douglas Wigdor, declined to comment when contacted by CNN .
Combs nodded when his lawyer, Alexandra Shapiro, said: “The dynamics between these two individuals is at the heart of this case.”
This content was originally published in Sean “Diddy” Combs wants to “present its side of history,” says source on CNN Brazil.
Source: CNN Brasil
I’m Robert Neff, a professional writer and editor. I specialize in the entertainment section, providing up-to-date coverage on the latest developments in film, television and music. My work has been featured on World Stock Market and other prominent publications.
