Defense lawyers for Sean "Diddy" Combs went on the attack Thursday against the star witness, R&B singer Cassie Ventura — showing jurors explosive texts in which both she and the rapper referred to "freak offs" with graphic enthusiasm.
"I can't wait to watch you," Combs texted her in 2009, two years into their 11-year on-and-off relationship.
He was referring to the drug-fueled, dayslong sex performances at the center of his criminal sex-trafficking trial.
"I want you to get real hott," Combs responded to Ventura's text, misspelling the word.
"Me too," Ventura texted back. "I just want it to be uncontrollable."
The texts were displayed on screens in the Manhattan federal courtroom where Combs is fighting racketeering and sex-trafficking charges that could land him in jail for life.
Ventura, who is eight months pregnant, was repeatedly asked by a defense lawyer to recite the texts out loud from the witness stand. She did so quietly, her voice sounding almost robotic.
"I'm always ready to freak off LOLOL," the singer read aloud to Combs' jury Thursday morning, reciting from a text she had used her Blackberry to send Combs on August 5, 2009.
"You tell me the day. You choose," Combs quickly responded, according to the text. "Name the day."
Ventura's husband, Alex Fine, sat in the courtroom audience while she was on the witness stand. As she began reading through the texts, he stared at his lap. Then he shifted his gaze and looked at her across the courtroom, and to a large TV screen displaying the messages to the public audience.
Thursday is Ventura's third day on the witness stand. Anna M. Esteveo, the defense lawyer handling the cross-examination, has told the judge that she expects to wrap up sometime Friday.
The defense has promised the four-women, eight-man jury that they will prove at trial that Ventura and Combs' other accusers participated in freak offs voluntarily.
On other occasions, Ventura told Combs she would prepare a room for a planned freak off.
"I'm going to Duane Reade to grab candles and then going home to pack us a bag," she said in one August 2009 text message that Combs' attorneys introduced into evidence.
Other texts show Ventura confronting Combs when she felt he was not paying enough attention to her.
"When we used to freak off, we were so in love," she said in one December 2009 message.
"I'm nervous that I'm just becoming the girlfriend that you get your fantasy off with, and that's it," she said later in the message. "I don't get the other part… Anymore at least."
In a later message, Ventura expressed frustration that Combs wouldn't prioritize her when he was traveling, which she testified happened often.
"I know you can take 3 minutes out of your day to talk to me and you don't even try," Ventura said on the witness stand, reading aloud from a text she sent Combs in 2010. "You're in too much of a rush to get me off of the phone."
Ventura had testified on direct examination that while she loved Combs, she hated freak offs, and only pretended to enjoy them because the encounters were often the only time she had with him.
"I was just in love and wanted to make him happy," Ventura testified earlier in the week.
She told jurors that she felt "worthless" joining in on the freak offs.
"I felt pretty horrible about myself. I felt disgusting. I was humiliated. I didn't have the words at the time to tell him how I felt," Ventura testified. "And I couldn't talk to anyone about it."
If you are a survivor of sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline (1-800-656-4673) or visit its website to receive confidential support.
