\n<\/p>\n
After more than a month of testimony from over 30 witnesses, the government rested its case in Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs\u2019s federal sex-trafficking and racketeering conspiracy trial on Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n
Shortly after, the 55-year-old music mogul stood up at the defense table and confirmed to the court that he would not be testifying in this case.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs it your decision not to testify in this case?\u201d the judge asked Combs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is my decision, your honor,\u201d Combs replied. \u201cIt is solely my decision,\u201d he added, noting that he had \u201cthoroughly\u201d discussed the issue with his legal team.<\/p>\n
Later on Tuesday afternoon, Combs\u2019s defense team also rested its case without calling any more witnesses of their own and instead submitting a series of exhibits into evidence .<\/p>\n
The jury will have Wednesday off and closing arguments are expected to begin on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Combs, who was arrested in September, has pleaded not guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of sex-trafficking and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, and has denied the charges against him.<\/p>\n
If convicted on all counts, he could face up to life in prison.<\/p>\n
Since the trial began more than six weeks ago, jurors have heard testimony from 34 witnesses, including two of Combs\u2019s former girlfriends, several of Combs\u2019s former employees, male escorts, well-known figures such as rapper Kid Cudi and singer Dawn Richard, as well as various law enforcement agents and many others.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors have alleged that, dating back to at least 2004, Combs led an enterprise that was involved in various crimes including sex trafficking, kidnapping, forced labor, arson, bribery, enticement to engage in prostitution and obstruction of justice.<\/p>\n
The government alleges that Combs used violence, threats, money, drugs and power to abuse and coerce women into participating in drug-fueled sex marathons with male escorts \u2013 referred to as \u201cfreak-offs\u201d \u2013 and that his employees aided in concealing his actions and protecting Combs\u2019s reputation.<\/p>\n
Much of the prosecution\u2019s case has centered on testimony from two of Combs\u2019s former girlfriends and alleged victims: singer Casandra \u201cCassie\u201d Ventura and a woman identified as \u201cJane\u201d.<\/p>\n
Both women alleged that they were coerced into participating in the so-called \u201cfreak-offs\u201d, which they claimed Combs directed, watched, masturbated to and sometimes filmed.<\/p>\n
They both testified about instances where Combs was violent and controlling, and claimed that he would sometimes threaten to release explicit videos of them or cut off their financial support.<\/p>\n
Another woman, who was formerly a personal assistant to Combs, testified under the pseudonym \u201cMia\u201d and alleged Combs physically and sexually assaulted her during her employment.<\/p>\n
Combs\u2019s lawyers have acknowledged past incidents of domestic violence, but they have argued throughout the trial that all sexual encounters were consensual and part of a \u201cswingers lifestyle\u201d. They also maintain that no criminal conspiracy exists.<\/p>\n
Throughout the trial, Combs\u2019s lawyers conducted extensive cross-examinations of many of the prosecution\u2019s witnesses, often highlighting inconsistencies in their accounts.<\/p>\n
This week, the last witness called to the stand by the government was Joseph Cerciello, a special agent with Homeland Security Investigations.<\/p>\n
He testified about travel, hotel, payment and phone records related to the investigation into Combs.<\/p>\n
The jury were also shown several minutes of sexually explicit video related to the case.<\/p>\n
If the schedule proceeds as planned, the jury could start deliberating before the end of the week.<\/p>\n
Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organizations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org\/rcip\/internl.html<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After more than a month of testimony from over 30 witnesses, the government rested its case in Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs\u2019s federal sex-trafficking and racketeering conspiracy trial on Tuesday afternoon. Shortly after, the 55-year-old music mogul stood up at the defense table and confirmed to the court that he would not be testifying in this case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9665,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[1844,1843,2129,1842,2128,885,1841,2130,2131],"class_list":{"0":"post-9664","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crime-justice","8":"tag-case","9":"tag-combs","10":"tag-defense","11":"tag-diddy","12":"tag-prosecution","13":"tag-rest","14":"tag-sean","15":"tag-sextrafficking","16":"tag-trial"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}