Jurors in Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Sex Trafficking Trial Start deliberating

Music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs is on trial for sex trafficking, and the jury has started deliberating.

The jury in the federal sex trafficking trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs started deliberations on Monday after hearing closing arguments that offered diametrically opposed accounts of whether the music mogul forced his ex-girlfriends into drug-fueled sex.

After U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian gave legal instructions instructing jurors to make their own decisions, the 12-member panel left the courtroom.

The court stated, “Each of you must decide for yourself what the right outcome of this case is.” “No juror should compromise their moral convictions in order to reach a unanimous decision.”

There is no deadline for when the deliberations must end, but a unanimous decision is necessary.

Combs, 55, has entered a not guilty plea to two counts of sex trafficking, two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, and a racketeering conspiracy allegation. The former wealthy and well-known hip-hop artist may receive a life sentence if found guilty on all five counts.

Two of Combs’ ex-girlfriends, singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura and a woman only known as Jane, testified before the jury in Manhattan federal court over the course of more than six weeks. They said Combs coerced them into engaging in sexually explicit interactions with paid male escorts, sometimes known as “Freak Offs,” while he watched, masturbated, and occasionally recorded the encounters.

According to their testimonies, Combs physically abused both women. Additionally, surveillance footage of Combs attacking Ventura in a hotel corridor in 2016 was revealed to jurors.

“Cassie repeatedly told you that the defendant’s violence was in the back of her mind whenever he proposed a Freak Off,” prosecutor Christy Slavik stated during her closing statement on Thursday. The goal was to keep Cassie under control and make her fearful of refusing the defendant. And it was successful.

Although defense attorneys acknowledged that Combs had acted violently in some of his connections, they insisted that Ventura and Jane had participated voluntarily in the interactions. To support their claim that the exchanges were consensual, they cited romantic and sexually suggestive text messages they had sent and received over their lengthy associations with Combs.