In this courtroom sketch, Sean "Diddy" Combs reacts after he was convicted July 2 of prostitution-related offenses but acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges that could have put him behind bars for life.Elizabeth Williams/The Associated Press
“Thank you, thank you.” This is what Sean “Diddy” Combs mouthed to the jury, his hands together in gratitude, after the verdict was delivered in his sex-crimes trial. Mr. Combs had been acquitted of the most serious charges he was facing, and convicted of two more minor charges. What followed from Mr. Combs and his legal team can accurately be described as jubilation. Mr. Combs pumped his fist and dropped to his knees in prayer. There was applause in the courtroom. Outside, his lawyer Marc Agnifilo called the verdict a “great victory” and “a victory of all victories.”
It’s not exactly a reassuring indication of justice served when a man who beat his girlfriend (we’ve all seen that hotel surveillance video) and degraded women – in ways the trial heard about in excruciating detail – responds to the verdict by celebrating.
Mr. Combs, a multiple-Grammy-winning hip hop artist and music industry mogul also known as Puff Daddy, faced five charges relating to two women, both of whom had been in relationships with Mr. Combs: the singer Casandra Ventura, known professionally as Cassie, and a woman using the pseudonym Jane; her identity is protected.
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He was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy and found guilty of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, related to his paying for the travel of men over state lines to have paid sex with the women.
His defence argument went something like this: the guy commits domestic violence, sure, but these women were willing participants in the sex events.
The prosecution argued that the women were in fact manipulated, controlled and coerced into the drug- and baby oil-fuelled orgies with male sex workers, lasting as long as four days, as Mr. Combs watched, sometimes filming. These marathons were known as freak-offs, a term which, unfortunately, has now entered the lexicon.
Ms. Ventura testified that the abuse began after she signed with the record label Mr. Combs owns – he had financial power over her; power Jane said Mr. Combs also invoked when she pushed back against his demands, reminding her that he was paying her rent.
Depending on your position in this matter, there was relief and jubilation, or shock and devastation, when Mr. Combs was found not guilty of the charges that could have sent him to prison for life.
That joy on Team Freak-Off was subdued somewhat a few hours later, when the judge denied bail for Mr. Combs, ahead of sentencing.
There is, understandably, concern that this verdict signals the end of the #MeToo era.
It does not. Nobody is disputing that Mr. Combs behaved egregiously. Legally, a jury of his peers may have decided his terrible actions did not amount to being guilty of the specific crimes with which he was charged.
But the world, including his family in the courtroom – his children, his mother – now sees him for what he is.
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A verdict in a sex-crimes trial does not necessarily tell the whole story. What the world heard during the trial does. Ms. Ventura testified that a sex worker urinated into her mouth, choking her. The court heard that Mr. Combs threw her onto the floor of an SUV and repeatedly stomped on her face. That he threw a liquor bottle at her when she didn’t respond quickly enough to an order. “Bitch, when I tell you to come here, you come here now, not later.”
The legal action revealed that help was required afterward to deal with participants of the freak-offs (who were given fluids intravenously to recover) and the rooms used (sheets were often stained with bodily fluids, including blood and urine, and baby-oil residue). Sometimes freak-off participants had to hide out afterward to keep injuries out of the public eye.
While the defence team may have been celebrating, this verdict is obviously disappointing for the women who testified, and disheartening for many others. But it is still a result of the progress we are stumbling through. Ms. Ventura’s lawyer, Douglas Wigdor, says “by coming forward with her experience, Cassie has left an indelible mark on both the entertainment industry and the fight for justice.” The women who have bravely accused Mr. Combs of further abuse – dozens of lawsuits are pending – should be commended.
In a sex-crimes trial, the legal outcome does not always reflect the evidence of the ugly behaviour. This is something Canadians saw firsthand with the Jian Ghomeshi trial. And something we should keep in mind as the country braces itself for the upcoming verdict in the Hockey Canada trial, expected later this month.
Whatever the verdict (and sentencing to come) in Mr. Combs’s case, his actions are not in dispute. Nor is the bravery of these women. What else can’t be disputed: the zeitgeist has changed in these past few years, giving women more power in the fight against sexual assault. And, despite what can be traumatizing obstacles, women will continue to fight.