Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial live updates: Former assistant Brendan Paul to testify as prosecution nears end of its case
What to know about the trial
Brendan Paul, a former Combs' personal assistant, is expected to testify today as well as a summary witness.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey said yesterday that the government will likely rest its case on Friday. Combs' defense team said it needs two to five days to present its case, but that timeline isn't set in stone.
Combs faces five criminal counts: one count of racketeering conspiracy; two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion; and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. Combs has vociferously denied the allegations against him.
This live briefing may include graphic descriptions of sexual violence. For resources on sexual assault, call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline.
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NBC News
3 hours ago
- NBC News
Mother of murdered Chico State University student pushes forward despite 4 decades without answers
Jan Miller has been missing a piece of her heart since June 29, 1984. That's the day her daughter, 19-year-old Veronica Perotti, was found brutally murdered in her college apartment. Her case still has not been solved 41 years later. Veronica was Jan's firstborn and her whole world. She named her daughter after the character in the Archie Comics. 'I thought that Veronica, in the comic strip, was just the most beautiful name in the world,' she told Dateline. 'And so, I always said if I ever had a daughter, I would name her Veronica. So I could call her 'Roni.'' 'She was, like, the easiest child ever. She hardly cried. She was just one of those quiet kids. Uh, always knew what was going on. Very, very mischievous. Always could smile at you and be getting into trouble at the same time,' Jan said. Roni was raised in Marin County, California. She grew up to be a kind young woman, always lending a hand to others at school and serving as a mentor to her younger siblings, with whom she had a close relationship. 'Truly a joy to have around,' said Jan. 'The glass was always half full.' In the summer of 1984, Roni was living alone in an apartment in Chico, California. She was enrolled in a nursing program at Chico State University, taking a summer class, and working as a hostess at a local restaurant. According to Jan, some of Roni's friends were going to move in when the fall semester started, and had already visited and brought in some of their belongings. 'And so there was a constant stream of people and girls. Plus she had some very dear friends that also were there going to summer school,' she said. However, Roni was frequently alone in the apartment that summer. According to Jan, Roni was supposed to be at work around noon on June 29, but did not show up. 'Her boss, I guess, called, and she did not answer,' Jan said. She added that the boss then called one of Roni's friends, who rode her bike over to the apartment. The apartment was a two-story, townhouse-style unit. According to Jan, the friend was able to see through the front window that Roni's bedroom door was closed. Hers was the only bedroom on the first floor. The friend then went around the back of the apartment, where she saw Roni on the floor of her bedroom — and started yelling. Some construction workers in the area came over, opened the window, and went inside to find Roni dead. Someone at the scene called 911. Jan was at work that day so she wasn't home when police arrived at the front door to give her the news, but she had a friend staying with her at the time who was at the house. The police left, saying they would return when Jan got home. 'So when I got home and I saw her, I said, 'What is wrong?' I said, you know, 'You — you're a wreck,' Jan remembered telling her friend. 'She said, 'I don't know what's happened,' she said, 'but the police will be here shortly.'' 'So I was already, like, you know, hair was standing up on the back of my neck, and then the knock on the door,' Jan said. 'This young officer, um, you know, identifies himself and he identifies me, and then he says, 'Your daughter is dead.'' 'You go into shock and, you know, you can't believe it,' Jan said. 'And then he tells me she's been murdered.' She was then faced with the unthinkable task of breaking the news to her husband, who was away on business, and her other children, as well as making the arrangements for Roni's funeral. 'She had been brutally beaten to death,' Jan said, adding that the beating was to the point that the mortuary recommended she not open the casket for Roni's funeral. 'I totally lost my mind.' According to Jan, police believed Roni likely knew her killer. 'Probably it was the person came over and she let them in,' she said. Dateline reached out to the Butte County Sheriff's Office (BCSO) for an interview about Roni's case. The Community Relations Director, Megan McCann, told Dateline via email that 'Veronica was found deceased on June 29, 1984 at an apartment complex located in the 800 block of West Second Avenue in Chico.' McCann also stated that 'since this is an active homicide investigation, information we can release is limited.' As time went by, there were still no answers in Roni's murder, but that didn't stop Jan. She became involved in multiple organizations supporting families of murder victims, before starting her own in April of 1994. 'We started Citizens Against Homicide,' she said. They host fundraising events, including an annual golf tournament. The money raised, along with grants, is used to help pay for DNA processing. 'It's expensive and a lot of counties don't have that much money,' Jan said. 'Citizens Against Homicide has helped Butte County with some DNA processing on Roni's case as well as other cases.' Roni's family also awards a scholarship each year at her high school — Marin Catholic High School in Kentfield, California. 'We've been doing it for 41 years, giving out an award to someone that reminds us of Roni. That's --that's the key. We don't care if you need money. We don't care if you're a boy or a girl. We don't care what you're studying. We don't care what your GPA is,' Jan said. When asked what standout qualities in a student would remind them of Roni, Jan answered, 'When she walked into a room, you knew she was there. The smile just lit up the room. Um, she — the glass is always half full. She's very upbeat.' All of her efforts go toward one goal. 'I don't want to forget Roni. I want my grandchildren to know Roni,' Jan explained. Megan McCann from the BCSO described Roni's case as an active homicide investigation. 'BCSO diligently investigates all homicide cases, and in the past few years we've been successful at solving multiple cold cases,' she said in her email. 'BCSO continues to look at emerging technologies, to include advancements in DNA technology to assist in solving cold cases.' In 2009, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a proclamation offering a reward of $50,000 for new information leading to an arrest and conviction in Roni's murder. Anyone with information is asked to contact the BCSO Felony Investigations Unit at 530-538-7671.
Daily Mail
5 hours ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Innocent tradie thought his nightmare was over when he was cleared of a shocking 'downward dog' rape on a yoga mat. But it's now turned out, that was just the start...
A tradie cleared of raping his girlfriend when she was in the 'downward dog' yoga position while on a Blue Mountains getaway is now facing a fresh legal hurdle. A jury took just 25 minutes to acquit the 35-year-old man of one count of sexual intercourse after three days of evidence and a judge later ruled he should never have faced trial. Judge Craig Everson, who presided over the hearing in Penrith District Court in late April, ordered the DPP to pay the man's legal costs defending a prosecution he described as 'doomed to fail'. But on Thursday, the DPP challenged Judge Everson's ruling, claiming in a Court of Criminal Appeal application that his decision was 'unreasonable or plainly unjust'. In a scathing judgment published on June 12, Judge Everson found there were 'glaring differences' between the alleged victim's evidence and what her mother and friends testified she had told them. 'To be clear, I am of the opinion that this prosecution of [the man] was instituted, and maintained, either without, or in spite of, proper professional advertence as to whether there existed reasonable prospects of securing a conviction,' he found. As well as appealing against Judge Everson's decision to grant costs against the DPP, the prosecuting authority alleges he 'erred in his assessment' of the woman's evidence. Maggie Sten, of George Sten & Co Criminal Lawyers - the law firm which represented the man - was stunned the DPP had not accepted Judge Everson's ruling. 'I've never heard of anything like it,' Ms Sten said. 'I can't understand why more taxpayer funds are being wasted on this. 'The judge was quite within his rights to make the findings he found based on the evidence in the case.' The acquitted man had been likely to claim about $100,000 in costs, sources said. Daily Mail Australia has chosen not to identify the man because there was no media coverage of his trial and the case against him was dismissed so easily. The court heard the man and the woman - who worked in the fitness industry - met in Melbourne in 2020 and began dating several weeks later. The couple enjoyed bushwalking and decided early in 2021 to drive up to the village of Yellow Rock on the lower slopes of the Blue Mountains for a short holiday. There was tension between the two during the trip, which had not been resolved when they arrived at Tall Timbers Cottage about 7pm on April 2. The woman gave evidence she got out of the bed she shared with her boyfriend the next morning, put on her gym clothes and rolled out her yoga mat in front of the television. After warming up with stretches, she began her yoga routine as her boyfriend came out to heat up his breakfast. 'The [woman] gave evidence that when she was in the upside-down V shape referred to in yoga as "downward facing dog", she heard the [man's] chair move in the kitchen,' Judge Everson said in his judgment. 'According to the [woman], the [man] walked up behind her, pulled down her exercise pants and underwear and she started saying "no".' The woman claimed her boyfriend then digitally penetrated her. She testified she said 'no' eight to ten times and 'found it hard to get out of the yoga position that she was in' while her boyfriend continued. That act was the subject of the formal statement of complaint the woman made to police more than two years later on July 13, 2023. The man, who was under no obligation to give evidence, told the jury he had initiated sexual activity with his girlfriend while she was doing yoga in the living room. 'In his words, the [man] played with the [woman's] "bum" on the outside of her clothes,' Judge Everson said. 'In response to that, the [woman] rubbed herself against him and the [man] then pulled down her pants and continued to play with her "bum". The man said when he touched the woman outside her underwear in a more intimate way, she said 'no' or 'stop' and he pulled away. Judge Everson said the man maintained 'that thereafter there was no discussion at all about the incident and the pair remained on holiday for the duration of the period hiking, sightseeing and engaging in further sexual contact'. The woman first reported the allegation of sexual assault to Victoria Police on December 27, 2022. According to Judge Everson, the woman initially told police that in the aftermath of the yoga incident, she walked outside and was 'crying and hyperventilating, like she was having a panic attack'. '[The woman] went on to say that the [man] and she slept in the same bed, went on a few hikes, including to the Three Sisters lookout.' Under cross-examination, and contrary to her evidence-in-chief, the woman conceded she had anal sex with her boyfriend the day after the alleged assault. Also omitted from her evidence-in-chief was 'an apparently pleasant trip to Bondi and the sending of intimate photos to the accused on 7 April 2021, whilst they were still at Yellow Rock'. Three of the woman's friends and her mother gave evidence about what she told them had happened. Judge Everson, a former Deputy Senior Crown Prosecutor, found all four witnesses' testimony was 'inconsistent' with the DPP's case and contradicted the woman's evidence. In the man's costs application, the Crown submitted the case it brought against him was one of 'word against word, which involves an assessment of credibility'. Judge Everson found the prosecution of the man was 'much more than a "word on word" case' and should never have occurred. 'The issue in the proceedings featured significant weaknesses in the Crown case that the Crown must have been aware of at the outset,' he ruled. 'Namely, the glaring differences between what the complainant asserted she told her mother and friends about the alleged sexual assault and what those complaint witnesses stated they had been told by the complainant. 'The relevant facts also include the contrasting aftermath account given by the complainant with the evidence given by her under cross-examination.' Judge Everson said the inconsistencies between the woman's evidence and that of her mother and friends 'meant the prosecution case was doomed to fail'. 'All things considered, I am satisfied the [man] has discharged the onus upon him of showing that it was not reasonable to institute the proceedings brought against him,' he ruled.
Daily Mail
10 hours ago
- Daily Mail
British Army soldier who sexually assaulted a lesbian colleague while she was asleep has been jailed for seven years
A British Army soldier has been jailed for seven years after he sexually assaulted a lesbian colleague. Corporal Luke Edwards groped the woman while she was asleep - despite her telling him she was gay. His victim described the assault - which took place while they were deployed abroad - as a 'harrowing, violating experience'. The 26-year-old has now been jailed for seven years after being found guilty of two counts of sexual assault by penetration at Bulford Military Court, Wiltshire. The court martial heard Cpl Edwards, of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, had only recently been promoted to the rank of Corporal when the incident took place following an evening of drinking. Lieutenant Colonel Graham Coombes, prosecuting, told the court: 'After an evening of socialising, [the victim] was told by Cpl Edwards that he was locked out of his room and it was agreed that he would stay in her room. '[The victim] told Cpl Edwards 'Well I am gay and you have a girlfriend so nothing is going to happen'. 'The pair kissed and then Cpl Edwards tried putting his hand down her pants and she pulled his hand away. '[The victim] said she removed his hand straight away and made it clear to him that she did not want that to happen. She then went to sleep.' Lt Col Coombes said that as she slept Cpl Edwards assaulted her. He then said: 'As [the victim] was a lesbian and did not have sex with men, she was not sure what was happening. 'She did not respond to him and was still half asleep and was confused about what was going on. 'She then froze and did not know what to do. She remained in a state of shock. 'She then left the room and went to see a friend and told her that she had been sexually assaulted.' A statement read out on behalf of the victim said: 'I was subjected to the most harrowing, violating experience when [Cpl Edwards] sexually assaulted me. 'The isolation gave me plenty of time to ruminate. I felt ashamed and hated myself for a long time. 'This impacted how I saw myself and destroyed my self-confidence, finding it impossible to imagine how I could ever trust anyone enough to be in an intimate sexual relationship. 'For a while my general health declined, I couldn't sleep as I constantly had nightmares and flashbacks when I did. It stole from me a sense of peace, security and self-worth. 'The defendant was supposed to be my colleague and completely betrayed my trust. 'He chose to sexually assault me and instead of showing remorse and admitting what he did, he not only denied these offences but maintained that I instigated sexual contact between us. 'His lack of remorse and integrity had caused a further 18 months of unnecessary, prolonged distress.' James Hay, defending, said: 'The victim accepts that she invited him into her room and into her bed. They also shared a consensual kiss. 'This appears to be a blip in a previously unblemished record. Cpl Edwards will finish his career in the Army today.' Judge Advocate General Alan Large said: 'In this kind of situation dismissal from the armed forces is inevitable. 'It is agreed that you could come into her bed but she made it clear that no further activity was to take place. You were only able to do it because she was asleep. 'Your actions show the highly damaging affects of sexual offences. 'Service personnel have to have a certain bond of trust to effectively serve and sexual offending undermines this bond. 'This type of case is very serious and needs to be dealt with accordingly.' As well as being jailed, Cpl Edwards was dismissed from the Army.
