Testimony continues after ex-assistant alleged Combs sexually assaulted her

The defense continued its call for more time to meet with Combs outside courtroom hours and U.S. District Court Judge Arun Subramanian appeared to say there might not be much more he can do to help.

The judge said he could have Combs available to his lawyers, in person, for up to 90 minutes in the morning following at 7 a.m. courthouse arrival and then for another 2½ hours after jurors are sent home.

Those hours are already maxing out the U.S. Marshals Service, the judge added.

Defense attorney Marc Agnifilo said his side can’t properly show Combs documents and exhibits in his holding space.

Subramanian said he appreciates Combs’ unique needs and will try to get more time and space for the defense. But at some point, the defense might have to accept it’s getting more time with Combs than almost any other federal defendant, the judge added.

Court is now in session for day 13 of Combs’ racketeering and sex trafficking trial.

Combs’ attorneys were seen arriving at court after 8 a.m. Marc Agnifilo dodged a reporter’s question about whether he watched the Knicks game last night.

Mia testified all day yesterday. At first, she answered questions calmly but later became emotional and struggled to catch her breath as she described Combs’ relationship with Cassie Ventura.

She cried when recounting Combs allegedly forcing himself on her sexually, and wept as she recalled feeling “terrified and trapped.”

Yesterday, a former personal assistant to Sean Combs, identified by the pseudonym “Mia,” testified about working for him from 2009 to 2017. 

She testified that Combs sexually assaulted her multiple times, and he had her work grueling hours, including once going as many as five days without sleep. She also said she saw Combs be violent toward his ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura. 

“I’ve seen him crack her head open,” Mia said, noting she never saw Ventura fight back. During one vacation in the Turks and Caicos, Mia and Ventura barricaded themselves in a room as Combs banged on the door. “Puff is going to kill me,” Ventura purportedly said. 

U.S. District Court Judge Arun Subramanian rarely passes up a chance to remind lawyers of his goal of wrapping up the case around the 4th of July.

And by all accounts, in the early days of this trial, both sides are reasonably hopeful they can have jurors deliberating by around July 4.

But defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo wanted to remind Subramanian on Thursday that even if the prosecution rests ahead of schedule, the defense’s case could still stretch toward the Fourth of July.

“It is fair for you to raise, so I am not raising expectations,” Subramanian said.

Victim-4, who is being identified in court only as “Mia,’ is set to return to the stand today after an exhausting day of testimony recounting numerous alleged incidents of violence and sexual assault.

Mia said she feared Combs’ power and wanted to take these traumatic experiences to the grave.

“I was going to die with this,” she said yesterday. “I didn’t want anyone to know ever.”