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

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.

Kerry Morgan testified that she and Cassie Ventura “often” discussed whether Ventura should stay in her relationship with Sean Combs.

“Sometimes I would tell her she should leave him,” Morgan testified. According to Morgan, Ventura answered “that she couldn’t” leave Combs because of “her job, her car, her apartment.”

“He controlled everything,” Morgan testified Ventura told her.

Combs' alleged exertion of control, including leveraging financial support, are elements of the alleged racketeering conspiracy with which Combs is charged.

Morgan testified that she and Ventura last spoke in 2018. She told the court that she recalled being at Ventura’s apartment, listening to music when Sean Combs entered and allegedly “came up behind me and choked me and boomeranged a wooden hanger at my head.”

The coat hanger hit her behind the right ear and left her with marks on her neck and a concussion, Morgan told the court.

Morgan further testified that Combs demanded that she tell him “who Cassie was cheating on him with.” According to Morgan's testimony, Ventura had locked herself in a bathroom as this allegedly transpired.

Morgan told the court that she recalled seeing Combs’ personal assistant there at the time shrug as Morgan left the apartment. “I don’t think he knew what he could do about it,” Morgan testified.

A month later, Morgan testified, she and Ventura met at a pizza place to discuss a $30,000 payment Morgan told the court that Combs made to her after she threatened a lawsuit over the alleged attack.

“She told me she thought I was milking it, I was over-exaggerating,” Morgan told the court.

The two never spoke again, Morgan testified.

The court then broke for lunch.

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.