By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Sean “Diddy” Combs’ lawyers spent a half-hour on Tuesday putting on their defense case at their client’s sex trafficking trial, paving the way for jurors to hear final arguments before weighing the hip-hop mogul’s fate.
The defense included showing jurors text messages in which one of Combs’ accusers, rhythm and blues singer Casandra Ventura, said she loved him and suggested she enjoyed participating in sexual performances known as “Freak Offs.”
Federal prosecutors rested their case against Combs earlier in the day, after more than six weeks of testimony.
Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to five counts of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. He decided not to testify.
Defendants in U.S. criminal cases are not required to present evidence, and judges instruct juries not to hold a refusal to testify against defendants. To win a guilty verdict, prosecutors must prove their cases beyond a reasonable doubt.
The government’s case against Combs included accusations that the Bad Boy Records founder forced two former girlfriends into sexual performances with male sex workers while he watched, masturbated and sometimes filmed.
Witnesses included the former girlfriends Ventura, known as Cassie, and a woman known in court by the pseudonym Jane.
Over several days of testimony, both said Combs beat them, threatened to cut off financial support, and threatened to leak sex tapes.
Combs’ lawyers have acknowledged that their client was occasionally violent in domestic relationships, but argued the “Freak Offs” were consensual.
On Tuesday, defense lawyer Anna Estevao read jurors several messages, ranging from tender to sexually explicit, that Ventura sent Combs during their decade-long relationship.
In one message from 2012, Ventura wrote Combs, “Besides making love, talking to you is my favorite thing.”
Five years later, Ventura told Combs in a series of messages that she missed him, asked him to send a picture of his genitals, and pledged to “be your little freak.”
Outside the jury’s presence, Estevao told the court the messages showed Combs believed the “Freak Offs” were consensual.
“That she’s telling Mr. Combs that she will be his little freak is probative as to his state of mind as to whether or not she was willing to engage in this kind of sexual activity,” Estevao said.
One prosecution witness, forensic psychologist Dawn Hughes, had told jurors that victims of sexual violence often develop “trauma bonds” with their partners, making it difficult to leave abusive relationships.
U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, who has overseen the trial in Manhattan federal court, is expected on Wednesday to meet with lawyers to discuss jury instructions.
Closing arguments are expected to begin on Thursday, and the jury may not begin deliberating until late Friday or Monday.
If convicted on all five counts, Combs faces a mandatory 15-year prison sentence and could face life behind bars.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by David Gregorio)
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