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

Sean Combs’ one-time personal assistant, David James, returns Tuesday to the witness stand, where he became emotional Monday when testifying about his job interview with the vice president of human resources at Bad Boy Records.

“We were sitting at her desk and there was a picture of Mr. Combs on the wall,” James began his Monday testimony before choking up at the memory. “She pointed at the wall and she said, ‘This is Mr. Combs' kingdom. We're all here to serve in it,’” James alleged.

James worked for Combs from 2007 to 2009, he told the court, during which time he testified that he witnessed Combs allegedly attack his personal chef, a woman named Jourdan Atkinson, who is expected to testify later this week.

James also testified on Monday that Ventura once told him she could not leave Combs because he controlled too much of her life.

“She was, like, ‘I can't, I can't get out,’ you know. ‘Mr. Combs oversees so much of my life,’” James testified.

James is expected to testify on Tuesday about a time when Combs and others allegedly went to confront record executive Suge Knight at a restaurant named Mel’s Diner. Ventura had previously testified about the alleged incident.

“Sean and I were having a 'freak-off' at one of his homes in LA. And, um, I just remember we were kind of, like, just chilling at this point. And D-Roc came in and he said that Suge was down at Mel's Diner, which was just right down the hill. And they quickly packed up and drove down there,” Ventura testified last week. “I was crying. I was screaming, like, please don't do anything stupid.”

Combs' attorneys are trying to convince the jury that jealousy and drug use caused him to be violent. Federal prosecutors contend that Combs' violence was meant to coerce Ventura into so called "freak off" sex performances with male escorts. One of those escorts, whom Ventura previously testified that she knew as “The Punisher,” is expected to testify Tuesday.

Cassie Ventura’s mother is also expected to testify Tuesday regarding video recordings of "freak offs" that her daughter described in previous testimony as “blackmail materials,” as well as about about injuries on her daughter’s body that the jury has already seen in photographs.

Tuesday's witnesses are expected to include an alleged escort known as "The Punisher," as well as Cassie Ventura's mother, prosecutors said on Monday.

The trial entered its second week on Monday.

Former Sean Combs assistant David James took the stand for the prosecution. He testified that he remembered interviewing to be Sean Combs’ personal assistant at the headquarters of Bad Boy Entertainment on Broadway, during which time someone remarked on a photo of Combs hanging on the wall.

“This is Mr. Combs’ kingdom. We’re all here to serve it,” James testified the woman told him.

James told the jury about what he said were demanding hours, the weapons Combs’ security staff allegedly carried and the time James said he, Kerry Morgan and Cassie Ventura were smoking cigarettes on Combs’ dock in Miami Beach.

“She said to me, ‘Man this lifestyle is crazy,’” James testified of Ventura. “She said, 'I can’t get out.' You know, 'Mr. Combs oversees so much of my life. He controls my music career, he gives me an allowance.'”

James also told the jury that part of his job was ensuring that hotel rooms in which Combs would stay were stocked with items Combs wanted.

Court adjourned just after 3 p.m. ET. Prosecutors said Tuesday’s witnesses will include an alleged escort known as “The Punisher,” as well as Cassie Ventura’s mother.

Defense attorneys questioned Kerry Morgan regarding why she hasn’t rekindled her friendship with Cassie Ventura since their last meeting, in 2018.

“I draw the line at physical abuse,” Morgan testified. “The reason I stopped speaking to her was she was not supportive of me after that incident,” referring to Combs' alleged assault on Morgan.

Morgan testified earlier in the day that Combs allegedly caused her to have a concussion after she told the jury he threw a wooden hanger at her at Ventura’s home in 2018. Morgan testified that she received $30,000 from Combs after threatening a lawsuit regarding the alleged incident.

“I didn’t demand money from anyone. She offered it,” Morgan testified, referring to Ventura. “The money wasn’t coming from her. She was the in-between" for Combs, Morgan told the court.

Morgan testified that Ventura offered her the money to sign an NDA, or nondisclosure agreement. “That was essentially to close the case on it. You don’t get to sue anybody or say anything public about it,” Morgan alleged.

“And you still never became friends again?” defense attorney Marc Agnifilo asked, referring to Ventura.

“She still hasn’t reached out to me,” Morgan responded. “I’m sure she doesn’t have the same phone number.”

Much of the defense cross-examination of Morgan focused on jealousy, seeking to reinforce the defense's contention that Combs became violent not to coerce women into sex but because of jealousy and drugs.

Agnifilo showed Morgan a text exchange in which she sent Combs a lengthy “affirmation” that Agnifilo said was penned by an author who writes about self-love.

“Did you believe Mr. Combs did not love himself?” Agnifilo asked Morgan.

“Sometimes it seemed like he did not,” Morgan testified.

On re-direct, prosecutor Meredith Foster argued that jealousy was not part of either of the alleged assaults on Cassie Ventura that Morgan claimed in previous testimony to have witnessed.

Referring to the alleged assaults in Los Angeles and Jamaica, Foster asked Morgan: “Prior to that what, if any, argument did you hear about jealousy?”

Morgan replied, “None.”

Morgan’s testimony has concluded.

David James, a former personal assistant for Combs, is the next witness.