The Albany Gazette - Combs's ex Cassie takes witness stand for fourth day

Combs is facing federal charges of sex trafficking and leading an illegal sex ring that enforced its power with crimes including arson, kidnapping and bribery.

Ventura, the singer known as Cassie, is the prosecution's star witness: she has told jurors in Manhattan federal court that Combs raped, beat and forced her into drug-fueled sex parties during their more than 10 years together.

But the defense is attempting to damage her credibility by emphasizing the length of the relationship, her decision to stay with him despite her testimony that he repeatedly abused her, and her own at times questionable behavior.

"I will kill you," Ventura was heard angrily saying in an audio recording to a man she believed had a video of one of the so-called "freak-offs" -- choreographed sex sessions that involved Combs, Ventura and male escorts, lasting for hours, even days.

"I will cut you," she said. " I will put you in the ground."

Ventura, who is heavily pregnant with her third child, did not contest the contents of the recording aired Friday for jurors, and continued to reply in a calm manner, on day four of her marathon testimony. She often rubbed her belly while on the stand.

On Thursday, defense lawyer Anna Estevao meticulously highlighted loving moments between the couple, as well as implying that drug addiction played a key role in Combs's rage that Ventura has testified left her systematically battered.

Much of it has focused on a ream of text exchanges between the couple -- some were loving, others sexually graphic.

"I'm always ready to freak off lolol," read one of the messages from Ventura to Combs -- dated August 5, 2009, when she was 22 and Combs was 39.

Ventura said she and Combs both suffered from addiction to opioid drugs, and the defense implied that withdrawal symptoms and "bad" batches of party drugs could have resulted in erratic behavior.

Ventura emphasized the subtext, saying that messages that might seem benign or even pleasant to outsiders contained pressures or other meanings that were clear to her.

She also suggested on Thursday that Estevao might be cherry-picking elements that cast Combs in the best light.

"This isn't about what I feel is relevant, right? Because there's a lot that we skipped over," Ventura said of the voluminous text records she was given to read.

- Domestic abuse or sex trafficking? -

Combs, 55, was once one of the most powerful figures in the music industry, and is often credited with helping to bring hip-hop into the mainstream.

His "white parties" filled with A-list celebrity guests -- all of them wearing white -- were the stuff of showbiz lore.

But the one-time rap producer and global superstar now appears visibly aged after months in prison, his hair now gray.

He has pleaded not guilty to all charges but could go to prison for life if convicted.

Ventura spent two days on the stand giving vivid accounts of the coercive sex parties demanded by Combs -- she participated in hundreds, she testified -- and his routine brutal beatings of her.

Jurors were shown a surveillance video from 2016 showing Combs beating, kicking and dragging Ventura in a hotel corridor.

But the defense contends that while Ventura's relationship with Combs was complicated and included domestic abuse, it did not amount to sex trafficking and that she behaved erratically and even violently herself.

Judge Arun Subramanian has urged the defense to wrap up cross-examination of Ventura by Friday given her late-stage pregnancy, and attorneys said they would attempt to comply.

Prosecutors indicated Dawn Richard -- a singer who found fame on MTV's reality show "Making the Band," which Combs produced -- will be among the next witnesses.

Richard sued Combs last year on allegations including sexual assault and battery. She said in the court documents she had witnessed Combs physically abuse Ventura.

(J.Torres--TAG)