By Jack Queen and Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Jurors in Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex trafficking trial viewed a 2016 video on Monday in which the hip-hop mogul assaults his then-girlfriend, Casandra Ventura, throws her to the ground in the hallway of a Los Angeles area hotel and kicks her as she tries to enter an elevator.
Prosecutors introduced the video on the first day of evidence in the high-profile trial.
Combs, wearing only a towel, is then seen grabbing Ventura’s belongings and dragging her into the hallway. He leaves Ventura behind. She lies motionless on the ground for a moment before getting up and walking to a hotel phone mounted on the wall.
Combs returns to the scene shortly thereafter and appears to grab at the phone. He then sits in a chair opposite Ventura and throws a vase in her direction, shattering it. Combs apologized after the video first aired on CNN last year.
After opening statements, the 12 jurors and six alternates heard from the prosecution’s first witness, Israel Florez, a former security guard, who testified he received a call for help after the incident in 2016.
“Scared,” Florez replied when asked by a prosecutor to describe Ventura’s demeanor.
“She was in the corner and had a hoodie on. I couldn’t see her face.”
Florez said Combs offered him a stack of cash, which he understood to be a bribe to keep the incident quiet. Florez declined the offer, he told the jury.
Combs has pleaded not guilty to five felony counts of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. If convicted on all counts, he faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and could face life in prison.
Prosecutors say Combs lured women into romantic relationships, forced them to take part in days of drug-fueled sex parties and then blackmailed them with videos he recorded of the encounters.
The next prosecution witness, Daniel Phillip, told jurors he had sex with Ventura for money multiple times in 2012 and 2013 while Combs watched and masturbated.
Phillip described an evening when he met Ventura at the Gramercy Park Hotel in New York, where the singer asked him if he would be comfortable rubbing baby oil on her and giving her a massage and seeing where things went from there.
Over the course of a two-month trial, jurors are expected to hear testimony from Ventura, and three or four of the rapper’s other female accusers, as well as his former employees who prosecutors say helped arrange and cover up his actions.
Combs “viciously attacked” women when they resisted taking part in the parties, known as “Freak Offs” or otherwise upset him, prosecutor Emily Johnson said during her opening statement on Monday in Manhattan federal court.
She told jurors they would hear testimony from victims who said Combs, 55, routinely beat them and exploded with rage at the smallest slights. The case has drawn intense media coverage because of Combs’ fame.
“They will tell you about some of the most painful experiences of their lives. The days they spent in hotel rooms, high on drugs, dressed in costumes to perform the defendant’s sexual fantasies,” Johnson said.
Defense lawyer Teny Geragos said on Monday that prosecutors were trying to twist Combs’ romantic relationships into a racketeering and sex trafficking case.
“Sean Combs is a complicated man, but this is not a complicated case. This case is about voluntary choices made by capable adults in consensual relationships,” Geragos said in her opening statement.
Marc Agnifilo, Combs’ lead lawyer, has said the 2016 hotel incident depicted the aftermath of a dispute over infidelity. In a court hearing on Friday, Agnifilo said Ventura had a history of domestic violence, seeking to undercut prosecutors’ argument that she was a victim.
Ventura’s lawyer declined to comment.
COMBS PUMPS FIST, SMILES AT HIS CHILDREN
Combs’ mother, Janice Combs, sat in the front row of the courtroom along with six of her son’s children. Combs wore a beige sweater over a white collared shirt and khakis. He smiled at his family and blew them a kiss before taking his seat with his lawyers.
Combs left the courtroom in good spirits for an afternoon lunch break, pumping his fist and smiling at his children, one of whom flashed him a heart symbol with her hands.
Outside the courthouse, throngs of Combs supporters and curious onlookers recorded videos on their smartphones as they jockeyed with reporters for a glimpse of Combs’ family.
Combs is known for turning rap and rhythm and blues artists like Notorious B.I.G. and Mary J. Blige into stars, and in the process elevating the mainstream appeal of hip-hop in American culture in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Combs’ defense strategy at trial will hinge on undermining the credibility of the women who testify against Combs.
Combs has faced at least 50 civil lawsuits accusing him of sexual abuse, including one from Ventura whose lawsuit was settled for undisclosed terms.
“Ask yourself why are they making this allegation now? What is their motive? For many of them the answer is simple: money,” defense attorney Geragos said during her opening statement.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen and Jack Queen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Howard Goller)
