Defense attorneys for Sean “Diddy” Combs have indicated they won’t call any witnesses to make their case that the mogul is not guilty of sex trafficking and racketeering.
Prior to jurors entering the courtroom on Monday, Combs’ lead attorney, Marc Agnifilo, said that the defense team plans to submit evidence, which will be presented to the jury with a brief presentation, but it will not bring any witnesses to the stand. By contrast, prosecutors called 34 witnesses to the stand.
NBC News legal analyst Danny Cevallos said that’s because prosecutors bear the burden of proof. Cevallos added that defense teams normally wait until prosecutors have finished bringing their witnesses to the stand to decide whether to call their own witnesses, who would be vital in helping the defense make a point not already made.
Defense lawyer Teny Geragos estimated that she has about an hour and 15 minutes of cross-examination left for the prosecution’s final witness, a Homeland Security Investigations agent named Joseph Cerciello, who began testifying on Friday and has primarily talked about the evidence against Combs, CNN reported. The prosecution is set to rest after the cross-examination of Cerciello is complete, at which point the defense will begin making its case.
Geragos estimated that after the defense closes its case, each side will take around four hours to deliver their closing statements, CNN added. Prosecutors will then have the opportunity to rebut the defense’s closing argument. All in all, closing statements could begin as soon as Thursday, and the jury could begin their deliberations as soon as Friday.
In court Monday, jurors watched several minutes of video footage of “freak-offs,” a term used by Combs describing drugged-fueled sexual marathons where male sex workers and Combs’ female partners performed for him for days on end, according to multiple reports.
Combs’ trial has been ongoing since May 5, centering around five federal charges: one count of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.
Prosecutors accused him of using his wealth and prestige to run a criminal enterprise that often abused and violated women. While Combs has pleaded not guilty and denied the charges against him, his attorneys have acknowledged that the mogul was violent. But, they argued, the “freak-offs” captured on video were consensual, and they claimed that the charges are an attempt to take down a successful Black man whose sexual lifestyle has been demonized through a puritanical, sexist lens.
Combs rejected a plea deal prior to the start of the trial, but the details of the deal are unknown.
The fate of the artist, producer and entreprenuer shifted in November 2023 when his ex, model and singer-songwriter Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, filed a civil lawsuit accusing him of rape and abuse. Her lawsuit was quietly settled the following day, but dozens more began rolling in.
Need help? Visit RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website.
