A newsletter by Reuters and Westlaw |
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After six weeks, prosecutors in the Sean “Diddy” Combs sex-trafficking trial are expected to rest their case today. Here’s what to know and what’s ahead: |
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Diddy has pleaded not guilty to two counts of sex trafficking as well as charges of racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution. The sex trafficking counts carry the highest potential prison sentence if convicted - a mandatory minimum of 15 years, and a possible life sentence.
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Legal experts said prosecutors have shown ample evidence that Diddy physically abused his former girlfriends and directed them to have sex with paid male escorts. Read more about that here.
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After the prosecution rests the defense will put on its own case, which is expected to consist of reading stipulations into the record and no live witnesses.
- Experts also say Diddy’s defense is likely to highlight instances where the women participated willingly in making its own case to the jury.
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To convict Diddy of sex trafficking, prosecutors must prove the sex acts were commercial in nature, and that Diddy used force, threats, fraud or coercion to compel the women to take part. The defense argues that both former girlfriends, the R&B singer Cassie and a woman known in court by the pseudonym Jane, were willing participants in the sex acts.
- Closing arguments could begin as soon as Thursday.
- Learn more about what’s happened at the trial so far here.
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New York Attorney General Letitia James will urge the 2nd Circuit to overturn a judge's ruling holding that two crisis pregnancy centers and a national anti-abortion group can tell women about an unproven treatment to reverse the effect of the abortion pill mifepristone.
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A lawyer for President Trump will ask the 2nd Circuit to throw out an $83.3 million defamation verdict in favor of the writer E. Jean Carroll, who said the president defamed her in 2022 after she accused him of raping her decades ago. The case is separate from the $5 million verdict that Carroll won against Trump for defamation and sexual assault, which Trump also appealed.
- Two federal judges will appear before a U.S. House of Representatives panel to testify about the courts' fiscal record and how they are responding to cybersecurity threats.
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The Trump administration will urge the 9th Circuit to overturn a nationwide order issued by a federal judge in California blocking its attempt to reinstate the Migrant Protection Protocols, commonly referred to as the "Remain in Mexico" policy.
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U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang in Greenbelt, Maryland, will hold a motions hearing in a case challenging U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s attempt to terminate the Temporary Protected Status designations for Afghanistan and Cameroon.
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The South Carolina Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a lawsuit challenging the state’s 2022 congressional redistricting plan as unconstitutional partisan gerrymander under state law. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2024 ruled that the map did not violate the rights of Black voters under the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment.
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Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes. |
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