Lawyers argue former partner had ‘agency’
Sean Combs’s defence lawyers on Tuesday began questioning a woman who dated the music mogul up until his arrest, and who has testified in agonising detail that he pressured her into drug-fuelled sex with escorts, as reported by AFP.
In the initial hours of questioning, defence attorney Teny Geragos sought to demonstrate that the woman speaking under the pseudonym Jane had agency throughout her relationship with Combs — an attempt to show that what prosecutors deem to be sex trafficking was in fact consensual.
The defence exhibited loving messages and voice notes the pair shared, and also asked Jane about her “jealousy” regarding Combs’s “polyamorous” lifestyle that involved other girlfriends.
Geragos elicited testimony from Jane in which she said she gravitated to men who were “successful.”
The witness, who told jurors she still loves Combs, also testified that at points she felt “very loved” by him, and that he was her “baby.”
Attorney Geragos spent much of the afternoon prompting Jane to read lengthy, lewd texts aloud.
During the uncomfortable, painstaking process Jane repeatedly emphasised there was an “undertone” to the messages in which she felt compelled to write what Combs wanted to hear.
Jane was largely calm and confident throughout defence questioning, but one particularly tense exchange saw her patience wane.
Pressing her over jealousy related to the gifts Combs gave other women, Geragos asked her if he ever gave her a Chanel bag.
“No, I only got trauma,” Jane responded.
“What is a Bottega bag?” Geragos then asked, referring to another luxury accessory that Jane had previously said she received from Combs.
“I’m sure you have one,” Jane quipped, before the lawyer asked her how much a Bottega bag costs.
Jane clapped back: “How much does my body cost?”
Violent outburst
Jane previously told jurors how the final year of her relationship with the artist known as “Diddy” exploded into violence in June 2024.
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