The jury at Sean "Diddy" Combs ' sex trafficking trial got a glimpse Monday at some of the "freak-off" sex marathons at the heart of the case, reports the AP, with prosecutors showing excerpts of explicit videos that the hip-hop mogul recorded during the drug-fueled sessions. Prosecutors played portions of three sex videos recovered from a Combs-linked account on a cellphone that his former longtime girlfriend Cassie provided to authorities, giving jurors a close-up view of the encounters they've heard about repeatedly since testimony began May 12. One video was from Oct. 14, 2012, the same day prosecutors say Combs had a "freak-off" in New York City with Cassie and sex worker Sharay Hayes, known as "the Punisher."
Before playing the clip, prosecutors showed jurors an invoice for an Oct. 14, 2012, stay at the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Manhattan that was booked under Combs' alias, Frank Black. A note on the invoice said the guest requested the room at 3am. Prosecutors also showed jurors text messages in which Cassie, the R&B singer whose real name is Casandra Ventura, arranged the Oct. 14 meetup with Hayes. In one message, she wrote: "Can we actually do 3 a.m. at the Trump hotel, Columbus Circle?" Hayes replied: "Great. I'll text when I'm on my way," and told her his fee for the encounter was $200 cash.
Jurors were also shown excerpts of videos taken on Oct. 20, 2012, and Dec. 4, 2014. Collectively, the clips shown to jurors were several minutes long and although at least one juror winced at a video, their reactions mostly were muted. Defense lawyers have said the videos prove Combs was engaging in consensual sex rather than crimes. Because of their graphic nature, the excerpts were available for viewing only for jurors, the prosecution and defense teams, and Combs, all of whom wore headphones to hear the audio. After six weeks of witnesses and evidence, prosecutors said they plan to rest on Wednesday. After that, Combs' lawyers will start calling witnesses. Until Monday, jurors had only seen still images taken from the "freak-off" videos.
(More
Sean Combs stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
