David James
Appearances
Diddy On Trial
Cassie’s mum, ‘The Punisher’ and gun photos
Yeah, so the narrative that they're trying to paint of David James as being this unreliable witness actually started before we got to the courtroom today. It started in previous months when David James gave interviews to the government. And it seems like he painted different pictures of an incident that happened between Diddy and Suge Knight.
Diddy On Trial
Cassie’s mum, ‘The Punisher’ and gun photos
The gist of it is that there was an evening where Suge Knight was spotted at Melrose Diner, which is a popular diner in L.A. Diddy's staff saw him and came and told him that Suge Knight was there. And Diddy got some guns and some staff and went to the diner to do whatever they were planning to do. That's still kind of unclear.
Diddy On Trial
Cassie’s mum, ‘The Punisher’ and gun photos
So David James is supposedly one of the people that was there on the night of that incident. And the characterization that he gave is that he was there with D-Rock, one of Diddy's main security guards. And then the two got in the car together, drove back to Diddy's place. Diddy immediately said, get in to his black Escalade. And the three of them drove off back to the diner where Suge Knight was.
Diddy On Trial
Cassie’s mum, ‘The Punisher’ and gun photos
Now, there's an issue with this story because it's a different narrative than the one Cassie Ventura just told us about on the stand. So I never really hammered on James's version of this story and was kind of painting about to be unreliable.
Diddy On Trial
Cassie’s mum, ‘The Punisher’ and gun photos
fired like if you're if you're tired on the job if you complain about working these long hours then then you're fired and yeah he said he he did run that red light with Diddy in the backseat of the car and Diddy screamed at him and asked him why he's running red lights said he can't be running red lights and he turned around and you know using an expletive said I'm tired you know and he didn't get fired so that was interesting.
Diddy On Trial
Cassie’s mum, ‘The Punisher’ and gun photos
Yeah, so the defense is trying to paint this picture that, you know, Diddy didn't know about everything that was going on under his nose, even illegal activities. And so James kind of reflects on this incident where he brings these women back to Diddy's home. And Agnifilo really hammers home on if Diddy knew about the fact that they were doing this.
Diddy On Trial
Cassie’s mum, ‘The Punisher’ and gun photos
He said this was something that happened frequently. People brought women back to Diddy's home without asking him. But ultimately, no, Diddy didn't know.
Diddy On Trial
Cassie’s mum, ‘The Punisher’ and gun photos
She was kind of on and then she was off. The testimony itself lasted just about half an hour, maybe even less. the defense actually had no cross-examination for Cassie's mom. It was all direct questioning from prosecutors. And it stayed pretty factual. It was a recounting of exactly what Cassie's mom, Regina Ventura, saw happening in her daughter's life.
Diddy On Trial
Cassie’s mum, ‘The Punisher’ and gun photos
She says that, you know, Cassie would come home and have bruising on her body. And one time, Christmas 2011, Cassie told her what had been going on, that he had been beating her. And there was another incident that Diddy actually demanded $20,000 from Cassie's family when he found out that she was seeing someone else.
Diddy On Trial
Cassie’s mum, ‘The Punisher’ and gun photos
Yeah. So Cassie's parents come from a fairly normal middle class background. And Regina Ventura said that they had to take out a home equity loan on their house in order to come up with that kind of money. Another important aspect of this story was that it was all facilitated by Diddy's bookkeeper.
Diddy On Trial
Cassie’s mum, ‘The Punisher’ and gun photos
So that speaks to the prosecution's argument that whether it was a crime or not, there were people facilitating, you know, trying to get money out of folks for Diddy on his behalf. So Regina spoke to taking out this loan on her home, sending Diddy the $20,000. And then she says four or five days later, he actually sent it back or it ended up back in her account.
Diddy On Trial
Cassie’s mum, ‘The Punisher’ and gun photos
So the Punisher said that he was initially contacted by a woman who he later found out was Cassie Ventura. And she told him exactly what the other escort said that she told him, that she wanted to create an erotic relationship. sexy scene for her husband and wanted to hire him to be a part of that scene. So he arrived at the hotel and described a very similar setting.
Diddy On Trial
Cassie’s mum, ‘The Punisher’ and gun photos
Cassie opened the door in a bathrobe. He was expecting a crowd of women, which is what he's used to performing for at bachelorette parties and birthdays and things like that. And there was no one there. It was just Cassie. And she took him through the room. Everything was covered. The couches, the furniture were all covered in linens. There were candles lit.
Diddy On Trial
Cassie’s mum, ‘The Punisher’ and gun photos
So right off the bat, very similar to what the other escort told us in court.
Diddy On Trial
Cassie’s mum, ‘The Punisher’ and gun photos
He said that he was performing oral sex on Cassie. Diddy came over and threw down some condoms and instructed him in an explicit way that he wanted them to start having penetrative sex. But he said that he couldn't perform and therefore he left eventually and they never contacted him again.
Diddy On Trial
Cassie’s mum, ‘The Punisher’ and gun photos
Yeah, so the name of the book is called In Search of Freezer Meat. And when asked about why it was titled that, Sharae said, what's harder than freezer meat, referring to his erectile dysfunction and problems in the bedroom. So it definitely did switch the mood of the testimony. Him and the attorney questioning him were quipping back and forth, making little jokes.
Diddy On Trial
Cassie’s mum, ‘The Punisher’ and gun photos
And the defense's cross-examination actually ended with the attorney saying, congratulations on your book, and I hope it's successful.
Diddy On Trial
Cassie’s mum, ‘The Punisher’ and gun photos
Just for more context, Sharae or the Punisher says that he met with Diddy and Cassie about eight to 12 times between the years 2012 and 2015. He says, you know, during that time, like the first escort, he was exclusively contacted by Cassie. He mostly interacted with Cassie. He was paid by Cassie.
Diddy On Trial
Cassie’s mum, ‘The Punisher’ and gun photos
Like with the first escort, the defense capitalized on this and kind of used it to question if he had feelings for Cassie or if he was in love with Cassie. And he was pretty clear and said, no, he wasn't.
Diddy On Trial
Cassie’s mum, ‘The Punisher’ and gun photos
So Hayes or the Punisher's overarching message was that Combs was really the one orchestrating all of these encounters, that he was giving directions and oftentimes Cassie was uncomfortable or wincing or sighing at the directions.
Diddy On Trial
Cassie’s mum, ‘The Punisher’ and gun photos
He did reference one time where he seemed to think Cassie was enjoying herself based on the fact that after oral sex, she moved her body closer, seemingly inviting penetrative sex.
Diddy On Trial
Cassie’s mum, ‘The Punisher’ and gun photos
He did think that his sex acts with Cassie were consensual, but he did also emphasize that she would look to Diddy for consent and he used those words specifically that she would look to him and he inferred that she was getting his consent to have unprotected sex, for example.
Diddy On Trial
Cassie’s mum, ‘The Punisher’ and gun photos
And we'll see you next episode. Thank you so much, Anushka. Talk to you soon.