After 34 witnesses and six weeks of brutal and graphic testimony, federal prosecutors rested their case against Sean “Diddy” Combs this week.
And his defense team took an unexpected tactic: opting not to present a single witness, including the hip-hop mogul himself.
In doing so, legal experts said they were taking a gamble and sending a message: That for all the evidence, the feds did not prove the slew of felonies including racketeering and sex trafficking.
From the beginning, Diddy’s legal team has said that for all the mogul’s flaws and questionable behavior, the charges went too far.
“The burden of proof is 100% on the prosecution, and so it’s not uncommon in criminal trials that the defense rests without putting on a single witness,” said Dmitry Gorin, a former sex crimes prosecutor. The defense team believes there is “reasonable doubt based on the prosecution’s case.” Jurors, he said, will likely endorse Combs’ not-guilty plea.
Jeff Chemerinsky, a former federal prosecutor, said the Combs’ lawyers believe the jury is listening to their narrative. “The theory of the defense seems to be that Diddy did really horrible things, but they don’t meet the elements of the crimes charged.” He said they did not call their own witnesses because “they had already made that point through cross-examination of the government witnesses.”
It’s impossible to know how the jury took in the prosecution‘s case, which included shocking testimony of violence, threats, payoffs and other bad behavior by Combs and his inner circle.
Prosecutors hammered home their case in closing arguments Thursday.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Slavik told jurors Combs “counted on silence and shame” to enable and prolong his abuse and used a “small army” of employees to harm women and cover it up, according to the Associated Press.
Combs “doesn’t take no for an answer,” she added.
At the heart of the case are three women who described graphic sexual…