The prosecution, an all-women legal team led by Maurene Comey, questioned 34 witnesses during the trial, presenting photos, videos, pages of text messages and email transcripts, and financial records as evidence against Diddy. Among the central testimonies were those of Diddy’s former girlfriends Cassie and a woman identified only as “Jane,” both of whom accused Diddy of forcing them to participate in “freak-offs.” During her four-day testimony, Cassie also accused Diddy of rape and physical abuse. Diddy declined to testify during the trial, and the defense presented no other witnesses.
Key testimony in the trial came from singer, songwriter, and former Diddy collaborator Dawn Richard. Richard alleged that, during that period, Diddy physically and verbally assaulted her during years spent working together on the reality show Making the Band and in the groups Danity Kane and Diddy – Dirty Money. (She brought the same allegations in a lawsuit filed last year.) During the trial, Richard also testified to witnessing Diddy physically abuse Cassie on numerous occasions, including an alleged 2009 incident during which she watched Diddy “beat [Cassie] on the ground in front of us.” Richard added, “I was scared that if I intervened, I might get [it] worse. I had never seen anything like that before.”
During the second week of the trial, rapper Kid Cudi took the witness stand. Cudi testified that his brief relationship with Cassie infuriated Diddy to the point that he arranged for a Molotov cocktail to be thrown into Cudi’s car. Cudi claims that Diddy had his Porsche 911 convertible blown up as a form of retaliation for dating Cassie.
The prosecution also presented numerous former employees of Diddy, who claimed to have witnessed the rapper engaging in physical abuse and drug use; former escorts who testified about getting paid by Diddy for the alleged “freak-offs”; Cassie’s mother, who recalled that Cassie informed her, in 2011, that Diddy was threatening to release sex tapes of her; and several others.
The defense focused on framing Diddy’s alleged victims as willing participants. Diddy’s attorneys depicted Jane as a consenting sex partner and showed text messages intended to present her as an enthusiastic participant in sex acts with Diddy and male escorts. The rapper’s legal team also emphasized text messages between Cassie and Diddy during the lead-up to a 2016 “freak-off,” claiming that Cassie planned the event, and pointing out texts that suggested she consented to participation. Additionally, the defense presented drugs (or withdrawal from them) and jealousy as pretexts for Diddy’s alleged violence.
If you or someone you know has been affected by sexual assault or domestic abuse, we encourage you to reach out for support:
RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline
https://www.rainn.org
1 800 656 HOPE (4673)
Crisis Text Line
SMS: Text “HELLO” or “HOLA” to 741-741
The National Domestic Violence Hotline
https://thehotline.org
1-800-799-SAFE (7233)
