They should come to a unanimous decision on each of the five accusations: conspiracy of extortion, sexual trafficking, fraud or coercion, transportation for prostitution
The jury at the trial of deliberating on Monday to decide whether the music tycoon built a decades’ criminal network in which he supposedly forced women to have sex with third parties while they were under the influence of drugs. The eight men and four jury women were instructed for more than two hours by Judge Arun Subramanian on how the law applies to the evidence presented by the accusation. They should come to a unanimous decision on the verdict of each of the five accusations that put him in the defendants’ bank: extortion conspiracy, sexual trafficking, fraud or coercion, transportation for prostitution (the last two accusations are similar to two victims). They will analyze the testimonies of the 34 witnesses who depressed in the two-month trial, as well as thousands of telephone, financial and email records. Combs, 55, can take life imprisonment if convicted.
The defense recalled that the women who now accuse him, who participated in sexual orgies with sexual sex professionals organized by the tycoon, were adults and made their own decisions. Two of the complainants-Casandra singer “Cassie” Ventura and another former partner who witnessed under one pseudonym-had longtime relationships with the Bad Boy Records founder. The defense worked to undermine their credibility, claiming that they did it for money and pleasure, and refuted the most serious accusation, that of extortion. The accusation, which in the American system is the prosecutor, said that Combs felt “untouchable” of his privileged position of power. In the final allegations, the prosecutor said on Friday that when Combs committed the most obvious crimes, “he was so far from the limit that he could not even see it.”
“The defendant never thought that the women he abused would have the courage to say aloud what he had done to them.” “It ends in this court,” he said. “The defendant is not a god,” he concluded. But for his lawyer, he was a “successful black entrepreneur and self-taught” and, although he recognized that the King of Hip Hop’s romantic relationships with his former partner were “complicated” and that there was domestic violence involved, he is not accused of it. Although unorthodox, sex was consensual, the lawyer emphasized. Combs was not testifying. He is not required to do so. The defense also did not present any witnesses, which is common in criminal trials, as it is up to the prosecution to prove the defendant’s fault.
Posted by Luisa Cardoso
*With information from AFP
