Diddy’s trial gets under way in New York

NEW YORK (AP):

The public knew Sean 'Diddy' Combs as a larger-than-life music and business mogul, but in private he used violence and threats to coerce women into drug-fuelled sexual encounters that he recorded, a prosecutor said Monday in opening statements at Combs' sex trafficking trial.

"This is Sean Combs," Assistant US Attorney Emily Johnson told the Manhattan jury as she pointed at Combs, who leaned back in his chair. "During this trial you are going to hear about 20 years of the defendant's crimes." Those crimes, she said, included kidnapping, arson, drugs, sex crimes, bribery and obstruction. Combs' lawyer Teny Geragos, though, described the trial as a misguided overreach by prosecutors, saying that although her client could be violent, the state was trying to turn sex between consenting adults into a prostitution and sex trafficking case.

"Sean Combs is a complicated man. But this is not a complicated case. This case is about love, jealousy, infidelity and money," Geragos told the jury of eight men and four women. "There has been a tremendous amount of noise around this case over the past year. It is time to cancel that noise." Geragos conceded that Combs' violent outbursts, often fuelled by alcohol, jealousy and drugs, might have warranted domestic violence charges, but not sex trafficking and racketeering counts. She told jurors they might think Combs is a "jerk" and might not condone his "kinky sex," but "he's not charged with being mean. He's not charged with being a jerk."

With the trial's first witness, Israel Florez, prosecutors went right to proof of violence by showing footage of Combs kicking and dragging the R&B singer Cassie, his longtime girlfriend, on the floor outside a Los Angeles hotel's elevators in March 2016. Florez said he encountered Combs by the elevators in only a white towel and slouching in a chair "with a blank stare ... like a devilish stare, just looking at me". He said that as he was escorting Cassie and Combs to their room, she indicated she wanted to leave and Combs told her: "You're not going to leave." Florez said he told Combs: "If she wants to leave, she's going to leave." Cassie left, and Florez said Combs called out while holding a stack of money with a $100 bill on top, telling him, "Don't tell nobody." Florez said he considered it a bribe and told Combs, "I don't want your money. Just go back into your room." Cassie, whose given name is Casandra Ventura, is expected to testify today.

The second witness called, Daniel Phillip, said he was a professional stripper who was paid $700 to $6,000 to have sex with Cassie while Combs watched and gave instructions, with the first encounter in 2012. He said he stopped meeting with them after he saw Combs throw a bottle at her and then drag her by her hair into a bedroom as she screamed.

The case has drawn intense public interest, and the line to get into the courthouse stretched down the block. Combs' mother and some of his children attended, including three daughters who left the courtroom when the testimony turned lurid. Combs, 55, pleaded not guilty to a five-count indictment that could result in a 15-year-to-life prison sentence if he is convicted. Since his September arrest, he's been held at a federal jail in Brooklyn. The trial is expected to last two months.