Share
Casandra “Cassie” Ventura took the stand Thursday for her first day of cross-examination.
The defense opened by asking Ventura if she was in love with Combs, showing emails and text messages between the couple. Ventura testified that in the early stages of their relationship, the pair exchanged many loving messages.
Ventura said Combs was “sweet” and “attentive” in the beginning. She believed she was getting to know his “real personality” and “liked who he was.”
At the heart of the defense on Thursday was the contention that Ventura was never, as she testified earlier, coerced into participating in sexual encounters.
The defense pointed to text messages like the ones Ventura sent Combs in 2009 that read, “I’m always ready to freak off lolol,” and “I just want it to be uncontrollable.”
Ventura said messages sent in the context of planning the drug-fueled encounters were a “typical” occurrence.
Under direct testimony earlier this week, Ventura said she participated in hundreds of freak-offs with Combs. She said the sexual encounters with male escorts could last up to four days and often devolved into Combs getting violent with her.
She testified that she was more open with Combs about her feelings than he was and eventually started to feel like Combs was exploiting her. In a 2009 email shared in court, she wrote to Combs that “I need to feel safe..”
Ventura told Combs she felt comfortable taking part in these activities when she believed they were mutually in love, but she was beginning to lose confidence in their bond.
A main theme of their defence is that the couple was in a mutually toxic relationship, as opposed to one based on sex-trafficking. Ventura said it was true that she and Combs discussed the so-called “swingers” lifestyle and that drugs were a problem in the relationship.
She agreed Combs appeared to be addicted to opiates at one point, like she was, but she said his true drug of choice was ecstasy.
We continue to pay attention to this developing story.
