R&B singer Cassie is expected back on the witness stand Friday in her ex-boyfriend Sean “Diddy” Combs' sex trafficking trial, with prosecutors insisting cross-examination finish by the end of the day over concerns that the pregnant Cassie is near the birth of her third child.
Cassie has been testifying in the Manhattan courtroom since Tuesday about Combs forcing her to have sex with male escorts. Prosecutors said in an overnight letter to the judge it seemed defense lawyers were intent on making Cassie to return to the witness stand on Monday, and they were worried there was a risk of a mistrial if she went into labor over the weekend.
A lawyer for Combs claimed on Thursday that prosecutors purposely delayed calling Cassie to testify until Tuesday, after two other witnesses took the stand, so that the defense would have less time to cross-examine her. In the overnight letter, prosecutors shot back that it appeared defense lawyers were trying to “filibuster.”
After the jury left the courtroom on Thursday, Judge Arun Subramanian told defense lawyers they would have up to five hours to question Cassie on Friday. Prosecutors said they expected to have no more than a half hour of questions for Cassie once the defense is finished.
Prosecutors asked the judge to force the cross examination to end Friday, saying defense lawyers will have had several hours longer to question Cassie than the government took in its direct examination. The judge was taking up the matter Friday morning before the jury returned.
Prosecutors accuse Combs of exploiting his status as a powerful music executive to violently force Cassie and other women into marathon encounters with sex workers he called “freak-offs,” which sometimes lasted days. He’s also accused of using his entourage and employees to facilitate illegal activities, including prostitution-related transportation and coercion, which is a key element of the federal charges.
Combs has pleaded not guilty to federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges. His defense says that, while he could be violent, nothing he did amounted to a criminal enterprise. Combs insists all the sex in the freak-offs was consensual.
During cross-examination on Thursday, Combs' lawyers sought to portray Cassie to the jury as a willing and eager participant in the music mogul's sexual lifestyle, by having her read aloud her messages to him including some that showed her expressing enthusiasm for the drug-fueled group sex.
Cassie said Combs locked in a life of abuse by threatening to release videos of her during those encounters, and testified Wednesday that Combs raped her when she broke up with him in 2018.
She sued Combs in 2023, accusing him of years of physical and sexual abuse. Within hours, the suit was settled for $20 million — a figure Cassie disclosed for the first time Wednesday — but dozens of similar legal claims followed from other women. It also touched off a law enforcement investigation into Combs that has culminated in this month's trial.
Combs, 55, has been jailed since September. He faces at least 15 years in prison if convicted.
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Associated Press writer Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this report.
