DIDDY: Week 2 of Trial to Begin

Week two of the Diddy trial is set to begin Monday, but Cassie‘s bombshell testimony has set the tone for the case.

Cassie’s cross-examination wound down on Friday. As we’ve told you, she described numerous “freak-off” parties where she said she was forced to participate in all manner of sexual acts. Jurors also saw that infamous hotel video where Diddy beats and drag Cassie in a hallway in an L.A. hotel.

After she left the stand on Friday, Cassie’s lawyer read a statement saying, “I hope that my testimony has given strength and a voice to other survivors and can help others who have suffered to speak up and also heal from abuse and fear. For me, the more I heal, the more I can remember, and the more I can remember, the more I will never forget.”

Diddy’s lawyers used old texts between him and Cassie to suggest that she was a willing participant in the freak-offs. The strategy: If she took part of her own volition, she couldn’t have been a victim of sex trafficking — and thus, Diddy would be innocent.

Former Danity Kane singer Dawn Richard gave testimony corroborating Cassie’s account, saying that she saw Diddy assault Cassie with a skillet full of eggs in 2009. She said he then threw her to the ground and tried to kick her.

Witnesses this week are likely to include:

• “Jane,” a former girlfriend who will say she was forced to engage in oral sex with escorts, and that Diddy once viciously attacked her, punching her in the face and slapping her forcefully.
• “Mia,” a former assistant who will say she was forced to perform oral sex on Diddy and that he raped her.
• Male sex workers who took part in the freak-offs and many former Diddy employees.

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Ariel Newbold

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