Sean Combs sex trafficking trial updates: Dawn Richard, Kerry Morgan take the stand

Kerry Morgan testified that she and Cassie Ventura "often" discussed whether Ventura should stay in her relationship with Sean Combs.

"Sometimes I would tell her she should leave him," Morgan testified. According to Morgan, Ventura answered "that she couldn't" leave Combs because of "her job, her car, her apartment."

"He controlled everything," Morgan testified Ventura told her.

Combs' alleged exertion of control, including leveraging financial support, are elements of the alleged racketeering conspiracy with which Combs is charged.

Morgan testified that she and Ventura last spoke in 2018. She told the court that she recalled being at Ventura's apartment, listening to music when Sean Combs entered and allegedly "came up behind me and choked me and boomeranged a wooden hanger at my head."

The coat hanger hit her behind the right ear and left her with marks on her neck and a concussion, Morgan told the court.

Morgan further testified that Combs demanded that she tell him "who Cassie was cheating on him with." According to Morgan's testimony, Ventura had locked herself in a bathroom as this allegedly transpired.

Morgan told the court that she recalled seeing Combs' personal assistant there at the time shrug as Morgan left the apartment. "I don't think he knew what he could do about it," Morgan testified.

A month later, Morgan testified, she and Ventura met at a pizza place to discuss a $30,000 payment Morgan told the court that Combs made to her after she threatened a lawsuit over the alleged attack.

"She told me she thought I was milking it, I was over-exaggerating," Morgan told the court.

The two never spoke again, Morgan testified.

The court then broke for lunch.

Cassie Ventura's former best friend, Kerry Morgan, described two alleged assaults on Ventura by Combs that Morgan testified she witnessed.

The first alleged attack occurred in a home Combs rented in the Hollywood Hills, according to Morgan. "I saw him push her. I'm pretty sure he hit her," Morgan testified.

The second alleged attack occurred in Jamaica in January 2013, Morgan told the court, saying she remembered being in the bar area of a home when "I heard her screaming," referring to Ventura, describing them as "guttural, terrifying" screams.

"I heard her screaming and I went to the hallway. The hallway was extremely long. They were coming out of the master bedroom and he was dragging her on the floor by her hair," Morgan testified.

A moment later, Morgan testified they were all outside when "I saw him push her on the ground and she hit her head," referring to Combs and Ventura.

Ventura did not move for 20 to 30 seconds from a "loose fetal position," Morgan testified. When Ventura began moving, she had a "really big bump on her forehead," according to Morgan's testimony.

The prosecutor also asked Morgan about the aftermath of the 2016 "freak off" at the InterContinental Hotel, during which a Combs attack on Ventura was captured on video.

"She had her hoodie over her head and she was kind of slumped and dropped her bags. And when she pulled her hoodie back she had a black eye," Morgan testified.

Sean Combs arrived at Ventura's apartment about 30 minutes later, Morgan told the court. "He was hitting the door with a hammer to try and open it," Morgan testified. "He was yelling. I could hear him. "

The police came to the apartment but Morgan testified that Ventura refused to cooperate, consistent with Ventura's testimony last week. Morgan also testified that Ventura did not tell her at the time why she was at the hotel with Combs.

Kerry Morgan, who was Cassie Ventura's best friend until 2018 when, she testified, "Her boyfriend assaulted me," is now on the witness stand.

A defense attorney for Sean Combs suggested that Dawn Richard agreed to testify against Combs at his federal sex trafficking and racketeering trial because he ruined her music career by dismantling Danity Kane and Diddy Dirty Money, music groups of which she was a member.

Dawn Richard returned to the stand Monday as the case against Sean 'Diddy' Combs returned to court.

"You felt like Mr. Combs had no legitimate reasons to dismantle the groups, right?" the attorney, Nicole Westmoreland, asked during cross-examination.

"Right," Richard answered, adding that she was not angry but "saddened" by it.

"You felt like Mr. Combs ruined your career not once but twice?" Westmoreland asked.

"Yes," Richard answered.

Westmoreland questioned why Richard would reach out to Combs after her split from his label if, as she testified, she was so afraid of him.

On re-direct, Richard testified that she "contacted Puff to be part of 'Making the Band," an MTV talent reality show that Combs produced.

Combs was no longer part of the show at that time but Richard told the court that choreographer Laurieann Gibson, who was a judge on the show at the time, told Richard that she would need to contact Combs nonetheless.

Richard also testified that she reached out to Combs in subsequent years, hoping to get Diddy Dirty Money back together.

"I didn't want to go back," Richard testified. "It wasn't good. I didn't want it. I was trying to help a friend." That friend was bandmate Kaleena Harper, Richard told the jury.

Richard testified that generally she tried not to think about her time as an employee of Bad Boy Records. "It was a hard time," Richard told the jury. "I have to go back to memories I don't want to come back to" when she thinks about that time.

"What, if any, memories were you trying to suppress?" prosecutor Mitzi Steiner asked on re-direct examination.

"The environment was volatile. It was very hard to work in," Richard replied.

"As you sit here today, do you have any doubt that Mr. Combs attempted to strike Ms. Ventura?" Steiner asked.

"I have no doubt," Richard answered.

Richard also testified that she had no doubt that the next day, Combs brought her and Harper into a recording studio, locked the door and threatened her to keep quiet about it.

Dawn Richard's testimony has concluded.