Sean Combs trial updates: Jury shown 'freak off' videos before court adjourns for the day

The jury is seeing more text messages that the prosecution is presenting with the intent to show how Sean Combs and his team reacted to former Combs girlfriend Cassie Ventura's lawsuit against him.

Combs' former assistant, who previously testified under the pseudonym "Mia," told the jury that Combs' bodyguard Damian Butler, known as D-Roc, repeatedly called and texted her in the days and weeks after news of the lawsuit became public, urging her to talk to Combs.

D-Roc is not testifying but a summary witness read for the court some of the call and text logs from his phone that appear to show him in close communication with Combs while he is chatting with "Mia."

"Mia" testified that the outreach from D-Roc and Combs "terrified" her. The messages appear to show that "Mia" brushed off D-Roc's repeated offers to "send my sister a gift."

Federal prosecutors allege that Combs orchestrated a criminal enterprise with the assistance of his bodyguards to pressure witnesses like "Mia" through attempted bribery "to stay silent and not report what they experienced or knew."

The jury is seeing and hearing a disjointed smattering of text and audio messages meant to try and reinforce testimony from other witnesses about hotel rooms, drugs and travel.

Prosecutors presented one group of messages between Sean Combs' chief of staff Kristina Khorram and Combs' travel arranger Jessica Ruiz discussing a flight for "Jane," a prior witness and ex-girlfriend of Combs who testified under a pseudonym, and a male escort named Paul.

Another group of messages involved discussions of paying a drug dealer, and Combs' request for 15 molly pills.

Prosecutors also presented a text from one of Combs' assistants that read, "got to reup on baby oil and s---" after receiving instructions to set up a hotel room for a "freak-off" sex session with former Combs girlfriend Cassie Ventura.

The prosecution told the court that the messages were taken from electronic devices seized from Khorram, who has not testified during the trial. Khorram has denied any wrongdoing.

In a 2018 exchange presented to the jury, after Ventura texted Khorram "I can't do the violence," Khorram messaged back, "stay focused, not worth derailing."

The racketeering and sex trafficking trial of Sean Combs begins a sixth week of testimony today with a pair of summary witnesses meant to help the jury organize the hundreds of exhibits they have seen so far.

We've been told it is possible that Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, will make another appearance early this week, as he did last Friday.

The last substantive witness for the prosecution is expected to be a former assistant to Combs, Brendan Paul.

Prosecutors have said they expect to rest their case as soon as Wednesday and no later than Friday. There will be no court proceedings Thursday, which is the Juneteenth federal holiday.

Judge Arun Subramanian declined on Monday to change his mind about juror No.6, upholding his decision to remove the juror and replace him with an alternate.

"The record raised serious concerns as to the juror's candor and whether he shaded answers to get on and stay on the jury," Subramanian said. "There's nothing the juror could say at this point to put the genie back in the bottle."

The first alternate juror is a 57-year-old architect from Westchester.

The judge said he took seriously the defense concern about race -- juror No.6 is Black -- but he said, "this jury does not raise those concerns." He also said it is "inappropriate to consider race" in deciding whether the juror's responses to questions about where he lived were appropriate.

At the conclusion of court on Friday, Judge Subramanian dismissed juror No.6 over what he said were "inconsistencies" in statements the juror made about where he lived, saying that the alleged inconsistencies raised questions about the juror's candor and ability to follow instructions.