The Fort Worth Press - Combs created 'climate of fear' as head of criminal ring: prosecutors

Attorney Christy Slavik told jurors how Combs "created a climate of fear" and "counted on silence and shame to keep his crimes hidden."

"Up until today, the defendant was able to get away with these crimes because of his money, his power, his influence. That stops now," she said as the 55-year-old looked on, occasionally passing notes to his legal team.

Combs, once one of the most powerful figures in music and entertainment, denies all charges.

For nearly five hours Slavik methodically walked the jury through the charges, weaving nearly seven weeks of testimony and thousands of phone, financial and other records into an intelligible narrative.

And she told them how each thread meets the legal threshold for guilt.

"Lots of that evidence was hard to hear or hard to see," Slavik told jurors. "And now it's all before you."

Core to the prosecution's racketeering argument is that high-level employees were well-aware of Combs's crimes and helped him carry them out.

Racketeering -- the most serious charge against him -- could send Combs to prison for life.

Combs can be found guilty of racketeering if jurors are persuaded that he ran a criminal enterprise and that it committed at least two offenses from a list of eight, including drug distribution, kidnapping, arson, forced labor and bribery.

Slavik spent hours vying to connect those dots for jurors.

"He became more powerful and more dangerous because of the support of his inner circle and his businesses," Slavik said.

"This is Mr Combs's kingdom."

- 'Imagine the terror' -

Beyond the alleged racketeering conspiracy, Combs also faces two charges of sex trafficking and two of transportation for purposes of prostitution.

These accusations say he personally coerced two women -- the singer Casandra Ventura and a woman who testified under the pseudonym Jane -- into years of drug-addled sex with paid escorts.

Both women were in long-term relationships with Combs, and the defense team said in opening statements the sex was consensual, if unorthodox.

But Slavik emphasized to jurors that the case is "not about free choices" and that the women involved were "drugged, covered in oil, sore, exhausted."

Pointing to what she dubbed "crystal clear" examples of trafficking and forced labor, Slavik explained how both women were forced into so-called "freak-off" sex marathons.

"If the defendant wanted a freak-off, it was going to happen," Slavik said, repeating her central thesis: "He didn't take no for an answer."

She recounted the harrowing physical abuse Ventura said she suffered for years, and how Combs had exclusive control over her career.

She detailed how he paid for Jane's apartment and thus wielded financial power over her.

And she pointed to how he threatened both women that he would ruin their reputations by releasing explicit videos of them engaging in sex acts with escorts -- encounters prosecutors said he orchestrated.

Throughout her arguments Slavik referenced testimony from a forensic psychologist who explained to jurors how victims become ensnared by their abusers.

And in one powerful moment she asked jurors to put themselves in the shoes of Ventura: "Imagine the terror of never knowing when the next hit might come."

"Now imagine trying to say no to that person."

- Defense arguments next -

Combs's defense lawyers will make their closing arguments on Friday, and are expected to insist that the alleged victims were adult women making adult choices.

Jurors were shown many phone records that included messages of affection and desire from both women, but prosecutors have said those texts are taken out of context.

Government witnesses included former assistants and other employees, as well as escorts, friends and family of Ventura, and a hotel security guard who said he was bribed with $100,000 in a paper bag.

Combs opted against testifying on his own behalf, a common strategy of defense teams who are not required to prove innocence, only to cast doubt on government allegations of guilt.

The 12 New Yorkers tasked with determining Combs's fate could go into deliberations as early as Friday afternoon.

A.Maldonado--TFWP