Maria Cruz Melendez
Appearances
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura's Second Day of Testimony
Essentially the government is trying to establish a pattern of abuse and the reason this is important is because at the end of the day each one of these charges will hinge on whether or not they can show that Sean Combs essentially overcame Cassandra Ventura's will.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura's Second Day of Testimony
So whether or not there was coercive control that resulted in her staying, and at the end of the day, with regard to racketeering, with regard to forced labor, sex trafficking, and even the transportation of prostitution, getting from her mouth exactly what happened to her is key. And I think at the end of the day, as previously mentioned,
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura's Second Day of Testimony
having other individuals who can testify to what they saw as well, and also that this type of conduct happened to other individuals is going to be really important in establishing the pattern of racketeering that the government has alleged here.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura's Second Day of Testimony
The reason that's important is because of this distinction that defense counsel is trying to make at this point, that this is simply about domestic violence, that it's about what happened between Sean Combs and Cassie Ventura. But once you've brought in other victims,
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura's Second Day of Testimony
Once you brought in the fact that violence may have been perpetrated against staff, against assistants, against other individuals who felt that they also had to assist Combs in the crimes that have been alleged by the government, then you're getting closer to establishing not only an enterprise, but that there's in fact been a pattern of racketeering.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura's Second Day of Testimony
Yeah, I think there are a number of similarities. At the end of the day, we have a high-profile defendant. We have that in both cases. We have a situation in which allegations included coercive control, taking individuals... under their wing, using that as a form of control, using physical abuse, psychological abuse and other forms.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura's Second Day of Testimony
During my opening statement in the R. Kelly case, I talked about the predator's handbook and using all those types of methods in order to control individuals. I think some of the differences, of course, that you see is that in the R. Kelly case, a number of our victims, the majority of our victims were minors. Here you have a situation in which that's not the case.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura's Second Day of Testimony
And I think that distinction can sometimes make a difference if you need to convince a jury that a successful adult woman was controlled by someone like Sean Combs. And that takes us back to this pattern, understanding
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura's Second Day of Testimony
all of the abuse that has been alleged and that Cassie Ventura has been testifying to and how that overcame her will such that she was unable to leave, to say no, and in fact had to do everything that Combs told her to do.