Cassie Ventura has spent the afternoon testifying, in part, about the power dynamic between her and former boyfriend Sean “Diddy” Combs as it relates to the sexual performances known as “Freak Offs,” which Ventura testified she felt she could not say no to.
“It got to a point where I just didn’t feel like I had much of a choice, didn’t really know what ‘no’ could be or what ‘no’ could turn into,” she said on the stand.
CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson on CNN said the prosecution’s focus on the power dynamic during Ventura’s testimony is “about consent, whether or not she was on board with it or whether she was coerced.”
“And so I think what the prosecution is attempting to do, is to establish that because of the power dynamic, because she felt that she could not say no, that she ultimately had to say yes,” he added.
As a result of that, Jackson added, “now you have your coercion, now you have your inducement, now you have your compelling her to engage in this even if she did not explicitly say no.”
Prosecutors allege Combs created a criminal enterprise using his business empire where he engaged in sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice and is accused of coercing at least three women, including Ventura, to engage in sex acts with him during the so-called “Freak Offs.”
Jackson added that he thinks the defense may argue that Ventura did not “explicitly” indicate that she wouldn’t participate and that she also “helped to arrange, orchestrate and organize” the “Freak Offs” for “almost a decade.”