Diddy thanks judge and says he won’t testify

Summary

Diddy On Trial: Episode Summary – "Diddy Thanks Judge and Says He Won’t Testify"

Release Date: June 24, 2025
Host: Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty, BBC Sounds

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Introduction

In this pivotal episode of "Diddy On Trial," hosted by Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty, listeners are taken deep into week seven of Sean "Diddy" Combs' high-stakes federal trial. Facing serious charges including sex trafficking, racketeering with conspiracy, and transportation for prostitution, Diddy continues to vehemently deny all allegations. This episode captures significant courtroom moments, strategic defense maneuvers, and insightful analysis from BBC’s New York correspondent, Sakshi Venkatraman.

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Diddy's Court Appearance and Statement

For the first time, Diddy addressed the court directly. As the session commenced at [00:02], Anoushka highlighted the gravity of the day:

Anoushka Matanda-Dawati [00:02]: "We're into week seven of Sean Diddy Combs trial, and for the first time, we have actually heard from Diddy and he had something he wanted to tell the judge."

During his appearance, Diddy chose not to testify, a move that, while common in criminal trials, carried additional nuances in his case. He offered commendations to the presiding judge:

Diddy Combs [01:06]: "I just want to say I think you're doing a great job. So thank you so much."

Judge Subramaniam responded with a cordial chuckle, acknowledging Diddy's praise before proceeding.

When questioned about his decision not to testify, Diddy affirmed:

Diddy Combs [01:32]: "Yes, I'm not going to testify."

This declaration set the tone for the day's proceedings, emphasizing Diddy's strategic silence.

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Defense Presentation: Challenging the Prosecution's Narrative

Sakshi Venkatraman provided an in-depth analysis of the day’s defense strategy, noting the unexpected brevity of their presentation:

Sakshi Venkatraman [06:49]: "Essentially, they put in some new evidence, read out some text messages, went through some stipulations between the parties and poked some final holes and witnessed this testimony. And then they were done. They rested."

The defense focused on dismantling the prosecution's assertions by targeting specific charges, notably forced labor and sex trafficking. They argued that the evidence did not substantiate claims of coercion or fraud, particularly highlighting testimonies from witnesses like Mia and Capricorn Clarke:

Anoushka Matanda-Dawati [04:00]: "The prosecution are trying to argue this was forced labor, as in, Diddy received labor from Mia as a consequence of force or threats of force or coercion or intimidation. And they're saying, well, actually, there was nothing within her testimony and no evidence to prove that she worked for Mr. Combs as a consequence of any of those things."

The defense contended that the working conditions, while demanding, did not meet the legal threshold for forced labor. By emphasizing the voluntary nature of relationships and interactions, they aimed to weaken the prosecution's claims.

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Examination of Witness Testimonies and Evidence

A significant portion of the episode delves into the defense's cross-examination of key witnesses and the introduction of text message evidence. The defense scrutinized pre-trial testimonies to uncover inconsistencies, particularly focusing on commercial sex workers involved in the case.

Text Message Evidence:

The defense introduced messages between Cassie and Diddy to portray a consensual and affectionate relationship, undermining allegations of coercion:

Cassie’s Messages [07:09]: "I owe you a Good night. I love you so much."

These messages were strategically presented to suggest that Diddy did not intend to incapacitate or exploit Cassie, but rather engaged in a relationship based on mutual affection.

Witness Testimonies:

The defense highlighted discrepancies in testimonies from individuals like Daniel Phillips and Sheree Hayes, showing that their feelings towards Cassie may have been genuine rather than purely transactional:

Anoushka Matanda-Dawati [09:40]: "It was a bit of a shock after seven weeks of the prosecution building up their case, calling 34 witnesses in total for the defense's case, just to be over in 20, 30 minutes."

By revealing that some escorts had personal feelings for Cassie, the defense aimed to cast doubt on the prosecution's portrayal of these relationships as purely exploitative.

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Strategic Use of Rule 29 Motion

The defense invoked Rule 29, a motion requesting a complete acquittal by arguing that the prosecution failed to meet its burden of proof. This standard legal maneuver reinforced their stance that the evidence presented was insufficient for conviction:

Anoushka Matanda-Dawati [03:29]: "Rule 29 is a standard motion that comes up at a fair amount of criminal trials. And it's basically the defense moving for a complete acquittal, saying that the government did not meet their burden of proof to convict the defendant."

By systematically addressing each charge and presenting counter-evidence, the defense sought to dismantle the prosecution's case comprehensively.

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Closing Arguments and Trial Progression

Following the defense's unexpected swift conclusion, the episode outlines the upcoming steps in the trial process:

Anoushka Matanda-Dawati [11:26]: "So tomorrow, Wednesday, the jury will not be in. There will be something called a charge conference to figure out how to integrate the charges against Diddy into the closing statements. But then Thursday and Friday, the jury and all the parties will come back for closing statements to begin."

Prosecutors indicated that verdict deliberations might commence as early as the following week, following extensive closing arguments scheduled over Thursday and Friday. The host noted the judge's light-hearted comment regarding the lengthy nature of these arguments:

Judge Subramaniam [Implicit]: "Oh, when you said nine to five, you meant nine to five."

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Conclusion

This episode of "Diddy On Trial" provides a comprehensive overview of the latest developments in Sean "Diddy" Combs' trial. Through meticulous analysis of courtroom proceedings, witness testimonies, and strategic legal maneuvers, host Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty and correspondent Sakshi Venkatraman deliver an engaging and informative narrative. As the trial edges closer to a potential verdict next week, listeners are kept abreast of every critical turn, ensuring they remain informed on the unfolding legal drama.

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Notable Quotes:

• Diddy Combs [01:06]: "I just want to say I think you're doing a great job. So thank you so much."
• Anoushka Matanda-Dawati [03:29]: "Rule 29 is a standard motion that comes up at a fair amount of criminal trials..."
• Anoushka Matanda-Dawati [09:40]: "It was a bit of a shock after seven weeks of the prosecution building up their case..."
• Anoushka Matanda-Dawati [11:26]: "So tomorrow, Wednesday, the jury will not be in..."

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Stay Informed: Subscribe to "Diddy On Trial" on BBC Sounds and turn on push notifications to never miss an update on this landmark case.

Transcript

[Rylan]

This BBC podcast is supported by ads.

[Anoushka Matanda-Dawati]

Outside the uk BBC Sounds Music Radio podcasts. Hello, and welcome back to Diddy on Trial from BBC Sounds with me, Anoushka Matandadawati. We're into week seven of Sean Diddy Combs trial, and for the first time, we have actually heard from Diddy and he had something he wanted to tell the judge. Now, before we get into that, a reminder. Diddy is charged with sex trafficking, racketeering with conspiracy, and transportation for prostitution. He denies all the charges. It's 4:30. Court has finished for the day, and I'm here with the BBC's New York digital reporter, Sakshi Venkatraman. Hi, Sakshi.

[Sakshi Venkatraman]

Hi, Anushka. Thanks for having me back.

[Anoushka Matanda-Dawati]

I mean, a big day. We actually hear from Diddy. Now. I do have to say, this is something that happens during every criminal trial. The defendant is offered the opportunity to testify and they have to get up and say whether they're going to to do so or not. But Diddy had a little bit more than that that he wanted to say.

[Sakshi Venkatraman]

Right. So from the beginning, we knew that Diddy. It was very unlikely that Diddy was going to testify in this trial and today confirmed it. But beyond that, he also had some praise for the judge at the beginning there. He stood up and the judge asked him how he was doing and he said, I'm doing great. And then he told the judge, I just want to say I think you're doing a great job. So thank you so much.

[Anoushka Matanda-Dawati]

Yeah, so a bit of praise from Diddy there. How did Judge Subramaniam react?

[Sakshi Venkatraman]

He kind of chuckled and he said thank you and quickly moved on from it.

[Anoushka Matanda-Dawati]

And then Diddy was asked, you know, have you confirmed with your lawyers about whether you'll testify? Are you making this decision of your own free will? He said, yes, I'm not going to testify. And then the defense present their case. But rewind back to the beginning of the day. We actually still have Agent Joseph Cerciello on the stand with the cross examination being carried out by Tenny Garagas, one of Diddy's defense lawyers. Sakshi, what were we saying?

[Sakshi Venkatraman]

Right, so yesterday evening, Tenny Garagos, one of Comf's attorneys, said that her cross examination of the special agent was only going to go on another hour and a half max. And today we saw about another four hours of cross examination and then another hour of redirect. So once again, today, we heard a lot of explicit messages between Jane and Mr. Combs, as well as some messages Between Cassie and. And Mr. Combs, between him and Jane, though, there were some interesting bits there with them coordinating how they were going to get escorts in and out without calling the attention of staff, specifically Christina Karam, who was chief of staff at the time.

[Anoushka Matanda-Dawati]

And that's interesting, obviously, because it directly picks away at the prosecution's narrative that Christina was coordinating this. They referred to her as a co conspirator. They've shown evidence which seems to point at the fact that people who Diddy had employed were informing him when escorts were arriving or booking them or helping them get where they needed to go. So this presents a different picture, right?

[Sakshi Venkatraman]

Exactly. So in these messages, we saw Jane and Diddy strategizing almost on how to get these escorts in and out, while kind of avoiding the gaze of Christina Caron. Like you said, it goes in contrast to what the picture the prosecution has been trying to paint this whole time.

[Anoushka Matanda-Dawati]

So we saw a lot of that, which is interesting. We saw a lot more graphic, sexually explicit messages from Jane where she's saying how aroused she is by stuff she wants to do with male commercial sex workers. And then we get into something called Rule 29. So actually, what is that?

[Sakshi Venkatraman]

So Rule 29 is a standard motion that comes up at a fair amount of criminal trials. And it's basically the defense moving for a complete acquittal, saying that the government did not meet their burden of proof to convict the defendant. And just a reminder, in all cases here in the US it's on the government to prove that a defendant is guilty and they're innocent up until that point. So Combs attorneys were arguing essentially that the government didn't do that on all of the charges that Combs is facing today.

[Anoushka Matanda-Dawati]

Yeah. And they picked out some specific ones, if we think about forced labor. And we remember back to Mia's testimony, she was using a pseudonym to testify to protect her identity. They said, this is an example of how it works. They said the prosecution are trying to argue this was forced labor, as in, Diddy received labor from Mia as a consequence of force or threats of force or coercion or intimidation. And they're saying, well, actually, there was nothing within her testimony and no evidence to prove that she worked for Mr. Combs as a consequence of any of those things. In fact, both her and people like Capricorn Clarke were scared about losing their jobs. And we remember that from their testimony.

[Sakshi Venkatraman]

Right. And if you'll remember, Capricorn Clark says that she was, in fact, held at gunpoint by Mr. Combs and forced to get out of bed and drive him to Kid Cudi's home. In the alleged break in, that Kid Cudi claims that Combs broke into his house. Mia says that she was also forced and threatened to work extremely long and brutal hours. So we've heard this come up several times throughout the course of the trial.

[Anoushka Matanda-Dawati]

But the defense are arguing there that working long hours or malpractice on the behalf of an employer does not meet the required level of criminality to qualify for forced labor in this trial. So they focused in on that one. I mean, they went through every single predicate offense related to rico and then they went into some of these sex trafficking counts. Now, interestingly, they focused in on Jane's sex trafficking, and they were saying that the prosecution's argument hinged on sex trafficking as a product of fraud. She was frauded into this because Diddy would promise her vacations and one on one time. And we did hear that a lot through Jane's testimony.

[Sakshi Venkatraman]

Right, exactly. And Jane actively asking for these things, money, trips and gifts and that sort of thing. And that's been a big point that the defense has really leaned on.

[Anoushka Matanda-Dawati]

The defense are raising the argument that people within romantic relationships or interpersonal relationships, they promise things that they do not live up to all the time. And they're saying, this is ridiculous. This doesn't live up to the idea that she was forwarded into performing in these hotel nights because she thought she was going to receive all of these things. That's not material fraud. So that's the level of detail they were using to break down some of these specific charges. And they went through each and every one. But the number one standout thing of today was the defense's case, because they presented and they rested in 30 minutes, right?

[Sakshi Venkatraman]

It was between 15 and 30 minutes. It was a very, very quick case. Essentially, they put in some new evidence, read out some text messages, went through some stipulations between the parties and poked some final holes and witnessed this testimony. And then they were done. They rested.

[Anoushka Matanda-Dawati]

So let's just talk about some of those text messages that they entered in. It's not stuff we haven't seen before. A lot of positive messages from Cassie calling Diddy Pop Pop. If we cast our minds back, Pop Pop was a name she had for her granddad. Diddy said, can you use it for me? So she started using it for Diddy. She said she didn't want to, but here she's calling him Pop Pop and saying how much she loves him.

[Sakshi Venkatraman]

She even said things like, I owe you a Good night. She talked about how much she loved him. She talked about how she thinks her stamina would be great to have a two day sex session and that she could do so without getting high. So again, things that we've seen before in the government's witnesses and their testimony, but just defense is trying to bring them back and make them stick in the jury's head.

[Anoushka Matanda-Dawati]

I think the message in reference to her about taking drugs, it's important that Diddy asks her, can you have a freak off without getting high? So he's introducing the idea that he doesn't want her to take drugs at the next freak off. Which obviously speaks to the defense's argument that he wasn't trying to incapacitate her in any way.

[Sakshi Venkatraman]

Right. If you'll remember, when Cassie was on the stand, she didn't say that she was always forced. She said that sometimes she would take things like ketamine to dissociate because it was just very hard for her to be there and perform those acts that she alleges were non consensual.

[Anoushka Matanda-Dawati]

And then you spoke about picking holes. I mean, a lot of what they did was go through. Remember we've spoken about those pre trial meetups that the prosecution would have with its witnesses and there'd always be a law enforcement agent taking notes. And those notes are then given to both parties. Everybody has access to them. They went through Dawn Richard, Sheree Hayes, Capricorn Clark, and they pointed out inconsistencies over the course of the meetings that they had. I want to talk about Sheree Hayes and Daniel Phillip because they are both commercial male sex workers who have been referred to as entertainers or escorts throughout the trial. The defense highlighted something interesting in both of their pre trial court interviews that they did with the prosecution.

[Sakshi Venkatraman]

Yeah. So a narrative that the defense has been painting throughout their cross questioning of the male escorts is the implication that some of them actually began to have feelings for Cassie independently of the free pops for City with Daniel Phillips, who was, if you'll remember, the first escort to take the stand. On one of the first days of trial, the defense pointed out something that he said in an interview with the government that when Combs wanted to take a turn having sex with Cassie during the freak offs, Phillips would actually get jealous. And that's something he told the government, but not something that he said on the stand. In fact, on the stand, he denied having romantic feelings for Cassie or doing anything out of jealousy. Same thing for Sheree Hayes, another one of the male escorts that was on the stand. He was also known as the Punisher, if you'll remember. He told the government that he had feelings for Ventura. Another thing that he denied when he was on the stand.

[Anoushka Matanda-Dawati]

And that chips away at the idea that speaks directly to the transportation for prostitution charge that they were being paid to have sex with Cassie. Because the defense are introducing the idea that they may have been doing this anyway because they were sexually aroused or felt romantic feelings towards her. So this is something they're using those pretrial sit downs to break down some of those charges. We had similarly with Dawn Rashad. They said she met with the government seven times, but in the first four times she met with the government, she never recalled a time where Diddy said people who talk go missing. If people say something, they go missing something to that effect that she perceived as a threat. They say in the first four times, she didn't bring that up. And it was the same pattern over and over again for Capricorn, Clark, Mia Barna, introducing inconsistencies. Then that was done, and then they rested. Sakshi, how did you feel when they arrested after that? I was surprised.

[Sakshi Venkatraman]

I think the environment in the overflow room that we were in was complete surprise. There were gasps. People were a little taken aback that it was that quick to be over. I mean, after seven weeks of the prosecution building up their case, calling 34 witnesses in total for the defense's case, just to be over in 20, 30 minutes, it was a bit of a shock.

[Anoushka Matanda-Dawati]

Yeah. And this isn't what we heard from the defense initially. They said they were going to put on a defense that could take weeks. They would have multiple witnesses that they would call. Then they said they'd be bumping up against the Fourth of July deadline. Then they said it would take two to five days. And now this. This isn't even a coffee break. This isn't even a full lunch hour. But we do have four hours, potentially longer, for prosecution and defense giving their closing arguments. So they are going to have another very long opportunity to present some more of the defense.

[Sakshi Venkatraman]

So tomorrow, Wednesday, the jury will not be in. There will be something called a charge conference to figure out how to integrate the charges against Diddy into the closing statements. But then Thursday and Friday, the jury and all the parties will come back for closing statements to begin. Each side says they will take about four hours to present their closing arguments with breaks in between. So we could potentially see the entire day Thursday and the entire day Friday being taken up by these arguments. Prosecutors today said the case might not even go to the jury until Monday.

[Anoushka Matanda-Dawati]

And they said, we're gonna go for a full nine to five for Thursday and Friday. And even the judge made a little joke being like, oh, when you said nine to five, you meant nine to five. I mean, these are considerably long closing arguments. As always, it's up to the jury what they decide, but we could have a verdict as early as next week. Sakshi, thank you so much for filling us in today.

[Sakshi Venkatraman]

Thank you for having me again, Anushka.

[Anoushka Matanda-Dawati]

That was Sakshi venka Charman, the BBC's New York digital reporter. And that's it for this episode of Diddy on Trial from BBC Sounds with me, Anish Nishika, Matanda Dougherty. Make sure you subscribe and turn on your push notifications so you never miss a thing. And keep sending us those questions on WhatsApp at 03301-235-5551. That's 03301-23551.

[Rylan]

Hi, guys, this is Rylan, and I'm here to tell you about how to Be in Love from BBC Sounds. Now, as a single divorcee, I feel ready to find love again. But I want to see if there's a better way of going about it. In this series, I'm going to sit down with 12 incredible guests who are really going to help me rediscover what love truly means and how I can find it again. People like Stephen Fry, Louis Theroux, Matt and Emma Willis, and many more. So join me on this journey as I explore how to be in love. Listen on BBC Sounds.

[Bobby Frixion]

The Indian singer and rapper Sidhu Musiala inspired a generation of young Punjabis.

[Rylan]

He really affected the lifestyle, the culture.

[Bobby Frixion]

But at the height of his fame, he was shot dead.

[Rylan]

This is a murder which Punjab will not forget.

[Bobby Frixion]

I'm DJ and broadcaster Bobby Frixion, and in World of the Killing Call, we're searching for answers behind his murder. What kind of world was Sidhu caught up in? Who wanted him dead and why?

[Sakshi Venkatraman]

He always say that, bro, one day.

[Anoushka Matanda-Dawati]

I'm gonna die with a bullet. I know that.

[Bobby Frixion]

World of Secrets from the BBC World Service. Listen now, wherever you get your BBC podcasts.