By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Prosecutors at Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex trafficking trial showed over the past six weeks ample evidence the hip-hop mogul physically abused his former girlfriends and directed them to have sex with paid male escorts, but Combs’ defense is likely to highlight instances where the women participated willingly in making its own case to the jury, legal experts said.
Prosecutors are expected to rest their case against Combs, who founded Bad Boy Records and is credited with popularizing hip-hop in American culture, on Monday in Manhattan federal court. The defense is expected to call witnesses of its own this week.
Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of sex trafficking as well as charges of racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution. The sex trafficking counts carry the highest potential prison sentence if convicted – a mandatory minimum of 15 years, and a possible life sentence.
To convict Combs of sex trafficking, prosecutors must prove the sex acts were commercial in nature, and that Combs used force, threats, fraud or coercion to compel his girlfriends to take part. The defense argues that both former girlfriends, the rhythm and blues singer Casandra Ventura and a woman known in court by the pseudonym Jane, were willing participants in the sex acts.
“There’s got to be a linkage between the force, fraud and coercion and the participation in the sex act,” said Sarah Krissoff, a former federal prosecutor in Manhattan. “There is some murky testimony and evidence in there regarding that, and the defense is certainly going to hammer that.”
Prosecutors say that for nearly two decades, Combs forced two of his ex-girlfriends into ecstasy-fueled, days-long sexual performances, sometimes known as “Freak Offs” with male prostitutes in hotel rooms while he watched, masturbated and sometimes filmed.
His defense lawyers do not deny that the sex acts took place, and acknowledge that Combs was abusive in domestic relationships.
But during cross-examination of the government’s witnesses, the defense brought jurors’ attention to sexually explicit text messages in which the women expressed affection for Combs.
Both women testified that they at times took part in the sexual performances to make Combs happy, and that they participated well after brutal beatings by Combs, who was also known during his career as Puff Daddy and P. Diddy.
Defense lawyers will likely use that evidence to try to convince even a single juror that Ventura and Jane took part consensually, said Krissoff, now a partner at law firm Cozen O’Connor.
To convict Combs on any of the five counts he faces, the 12-member panel must unanimously conclude that prosecutors proved their allegations beyond a reasonable doubt.
‘TRAUMA BONDS’
Prosecutors argue the longevity of Ventura’s and Jane’s relationships with Combs does not mean they consented to take part in the sex acts. Both women testified that Combs beat them, threatened to cut off financial support, or publicly release explicit videos he had taken of them.
Experts who said the testimony from forensic psychologist Dawn Hughes could be key in undermining the defense argument that Ventura and Jane took part in the “Freak Offs” consensually.
Testifying as an expert witness on May 21, Hughes said victims of sexual violence can form a “trauma bond” with their perpetrators that can make it difficult for the victims to leave an abusive relationship.
“Such compelling testimony from the victims, corroborated by the other evidence in the case of Combs’ abuse and control, will be very difficult for the defense to try to overcome,” said Stephen Reynolds, a former federal prosecutor and current partner at law firm Day Pitney.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York;Editing by Noeleen Walder and Nick Zieminski)
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