Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial updates: Court is adjourned until Tuesday

Cassie Ventura’s former best friend, Kerry Morgan, described two alleged assaults on Ventura by Combs that Morgan testified she witnessed.

The first alleged attack occurred in a home Combs rented in the Hollywood Hills, according to Morgan. “I saw him push her. I’m pretty sure he hit her,” Morgan testified.

The second alleged attack occurred in Jamaica in January 2013, Morgan told the court, saying she remembered being in the bar area of a home when “I heard her screaming,” referring to Ventura, describing them as “guttural, terrifying” screams.

“I heard her screaming and I went to the hallway. The hallway was extremely long. They were coming out of the master bedroom and he was dragging her on the floor by her hair,” Morgan testified.

A moment later, Morgan testified they were all outside when “I saw him push her on the ground and she hit her head," referring to Combs and Ventura.

Ventura did not move for 20 to 30 seconds from a “loose fetal position,” Morgan testified. When Ventura began moving, she had a “really big bump on her forehead,” according to Morgan's testimony.

The prosecutor also asked Morgan about the aftermath of the 2016 "freak off" at the InterContinental Hotel, during which a Combs attack on Ventura was captured on video.

“She had her hoodie over her head and she was kind of slumped and dropped her bags. And when she pulled her hoodie back she had a black eye,” Morgan testified.

Sean Combs arrived at Ventura's apartment about 30 minutes later, Morgan told the court. “He was hitting the door with a hammer to try and open it,” Morgan testified. “He was yelling. I could hear him. “

The police came to the apartment but Morgan testified that Ventura refused to cooperate, consistent with Ventura’s testimony last week. Morgan also testified that Ventura did not tell her at the time why she was at the hotel with Combs.

Kerry Morgan, who was Cassie Ventura’s best friend until 2018 when, she testified, “Her boyfriend assaulted me,” is now on the witness stand.

A defense attorney for Sean Combs suggested that Dawn Richard agreed to testify against Combs at his federal sex trafficking and racketeering trial because he ruined her music career by dismantling Danity Kane and Diddy Dirty Money, music groups of which she was a member.

“You felt like Mr. Combs had no legitimate reasons to dismantle the groups, right?” the attorney, Nicole Westmoreland, asked during cross-examination.

“Right,” Richard answered, adding that she was not angry but “saddened” by it.

“You felt like Mr. Combs ruined your career not once but twice?” Westmoreland asked.

“Yes,” Richard answered.

Westmoreland questioned why Richard would reach out to Combs after her split from his label if, as she testified, she was so afraid of him.

On re-direct, Richard testified that she “contacted Puff to be part of 'Making the Band,” an MTV talent reality show that Combs produced.

Combs was no longer part of the show at that time but Richard told the court that choreographer Laurieann Gibson, who was a judge on the show at the time, told Richard that she would need to contact Combs nonetheless.

Richard also testified that she reached out to Combs in subsequent years, hoping to get Diddy Dirty Money back together.

“I didn’t want to go back,” Richard testified. “It wasn’t good. I didn’t want it. I was trying to help a friend.” That friend was bandmate Kaleena Harper, Richard told the jury.

Richard testified that generally she tried not to think about her time as an employee of Bad Boy Records. “It was a hard time,” Richard told the jury. “I have to go back to memories I don’t want to come back to" when she thinks about that time.

“What, if any, memories were you trying to suppress?” prosecutor Mitzi Steiner asked on re-direct examination.

“The environment was volatile. It was very hard to work in,” Richard replied.

“As you sit here today, do you have any doubt that Mr. Combs attempted to strike Ms. Ventura?” Steiner asked.

“I have no doubt,” Richard answered.

Richard also testified that she had no doubt that the next day, Combs brought her and Harper into a recording studio, locked the door and threatened her to keep quiet about it.

Dawn Richard’s testimony has concluded.

On cross-examination, defense attorney Nicole Westmoreland said Dawn Richard’s account of his alleged assault on Cassie Ventura changed several times.

Richard told the jury that she once witnessed Sean Combs take a swing at Cassie Ventura with a frying pan before kicking her on the ground.

Westmoreland confronted Richard with transcripts of her interviews with prosecutors during which she previously said she heard the pan hit the wall, saw Combs actually strike Ventura with it, and saw Combs throw the contents of the pan at Ventura and then set the pan down.

“It has been hard for you to keep your story the same,” Westmoreland asked.

“I told it to the best of my recollection and as close as I could get it,” Richard responded.

“You have four different recollections?” Westmoreland asked.

“No, I don’t,” Richard answered.

Westmoreland also challenged a statement Richard had attributed to Combs following the alleged assault on Ventura.

“He said that she was okay and that it would be in our best interests if we didn't say anything. He was trying to take us to the top, and that, where he comes from, people go missing if they say things like that, like, if people talk,” Richard testified.

“You didn’t tell the federal government that Mr. Combs told you ‘people go missing,’” Westmoreland said, citing several interviews Richard conducted with federal prosecutors.

Richard responded that she “spoke as best as she could remember.”

Richard also testified that she saw Combs carrying guns several times at the studio or “sometimes the club.”

“You never saw Mr. Combs pull a gun out and wave it around, right?” Westmoreland asked.

“No,” Richard answered.

“You never saw Mr. Combs pull a gun out and cock it back or anything like that?” Westmoreland asked.

“No,” Richard responded.

“Matter of fact, you’ve never seen Mr. Combs pull a gun out, period,” Westmoreland said.

“Just had it on him,” Richard testified.