Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - DIDDY STRIKES BACK: STATE BRACES FOR DEFENSE CLOSING ARGUMENT

Episode Date: June 27, 2025

Sean "Diddy" Combs' defense summarizes their case today as defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo has said he hopes to complete his closing arguments in about three hours. Despite acknowledging the physical abuse between the couple, Agnifilo then goes on to describe the relationship between Combs and Ventura as "a great modern love story." The highly anticipated trial of hip-hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs is nearing the end. Combs has been accused of sex trafficking by force, transportation to engage in prostitution, and racketeering conspiracy as part of a blockbuster federal indictment originally filed in September 2024. He later faced two additional superseding indictments. Combs has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges. Follow Crime Stories with Nancy Grace for the latest in Sean Combs' trial.  Joining Nancy Grace, Eric Faddis - Trial Lawyer and TV Legal Analyst, Founding Partner of Varner Faddis Elite Legal, former felony prosecutor and current criminal defense and civil litigation attorney Dr. Bethany Marshall - Psychoanalyst, Author: "Deal Breaker: When to work on a relationship and when to walk away” Also featured in hit show: "Paris in Love" on Peacock, www.drbethanymarshall.com , Instagram & TikTok: drbethanymarshall, Twitter: @DrBethanyLive Brian Fitzgibbons - Director of Operations for USPA Nationwide Security, Leads a team of investigators specializing in locating missing persons,  www.uspasecurity.com, Instagram: @uspa_nationwide_security, former Marine and Iraq war veteran Lynn Shaw - Founder and Executive Director of Lynn's Warriors - an organization committed to ending human trafficking and sexual exploitation,  Host of Lynn's Warriors on YouTube, website: lynnswarrior.org,  X: @lynns_warriors, YouTube: @LynnsWarriors Tisa Tells - Pop Culture Investigator & Commentator and Host of 'Tisa Tells' on Youtube, Instagram & TikTok: @TisaTellss, Facebook: Tisa.Tells.3 Lauren Conlin- Podcaster/Reporter/Host- Co-Host of "PopCrimeTV" on YouTube,  Website: www.popcrime.tv and primetimecrimeshow.com,  X- @Conlin_Lauren, Instagram: @LaurenEmilyConlin, YouTube: @PopCrimeTV Sydney Sumner- Crime Stories'  Investigative Reporter See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace Diddy strikes back and the state braces for the defense closing arguments. Good evening. I'm Nancy grace This is Crime Stories. I want to thank you for being with us at the courthouse vegas odds even Thank you for being with us. At the courthouse, Vegas odds even. Sean Combs will spend no time behind bars and Sean Combs will spend life behind bars. It's all down to 12 jurors. We are headed into a verdict watch here at Crime Stories.

Now straight to Crime Stories investigative reporter Sydney Sumner. Sydney, the state is braced. Closing arguments going throughout the day. The state went five hours in closing arguments and they were withering. The jury making notes furiously and leaning forward in their seats. That's always a good sign, but you can't call this in the fifth inning. No! There's a long way to go. Sydney Sumner today defense closing arguments start at the beginning with Sean Combs walking into the courtroom. All Namaste! What happened? Well Nancy we

have heard reports that Diddy has been greeting his lawyers with a yoga studio-esque bow. Clasps his hands together, gives them a little nod of respect as he greets them in the morning. Today is all about the defense. Pause. Just stop right there. What? What?

Whoa whoa whoa whoa. What? A yoga zen thing? What are you talking about? Well Nancy, I don't know if you've ever been to a yoga class. I used to attend pretty often. But you just at the end of class, at the beginning of class, you put your hands together and you do a short little bow to everyone else in the classroom to show your respect for everyone. And that's exactly what Combs has been doing to all eight of his lawyers in the courtroom every morning when he comes to see them.

Sydney, you cannot live in New York City in Manhattan and not be subjected to a yoga class, particularly a hot yoga class, the worst. But what you're saying is like a Zen Namaste. Oh, okay. You know what? Straight out to Lynn Shaw joining me. Executive director founder of Lynn's Warriors dedicated to ending sexploitation, trafficking of women and girls. You know Namaste? My rear end. He can Namaste his way all the way to the MDC. He wasn't all the way to the MDC

He wasn't all namaste in the middle of all these freak offs You know how big of a stack they had to do an 800 number for all the women calling in? Claiming that they were victims of Sean combs freak offs King nights hotel nights whatever whatever euphemism he wants to use. These women claiming they were drugged in their drinks, that they woke up covered in baby oil with their vaginas hurting and he's all, Namaste, my rear end. What a slap in the face to all victims of any kind of sexual exploitation, abuse. I mean, this is horrific. And you know what? I'm putting my money on the jury that everybody can see right through

this this act of contrition, because this is horrific that he's allowed to walk into court and he's he's being all cute and calm. And you know what? Yesterday I was saying I don't I don't want to call him the nicknames. I've called him dirty ditty and things like that. But today I want to go back to that because I am sick and tired of this. Who is protecting? Who is talking to? Who is giving advice counsel to these hundreds, as far as we know, right, you know, victims of his probably thousands over the years. So I'm just hoping that this playbook of his, this Dirty Diddy playbook, everybody's on to him, everybody's sick of him. And you know what? We have to turn that focus and hope and hope and hope

that victims, survivors, anybody watching this, this, he's turning it into a laugh, you know, a laugh stock fest here, you know, some kind of festival. This is a court of law. He's supposed to be up for his life, right? And the family and him and the lawyer singing, it's too much, Nancy, it's just too much. I know, did you hear that yesterday Dr. Bethany Marshall, you were with us last night when we learned that

Agnifilo, the defense attorney, went on the mic and started singing, Her name was Lola. He started singing Copacabana in a sex trafficking trial and it just threw me over the edge because I have dealt with rape victims. You know look around look around I'm looking around the studio at least one in four women had been sex assault victims. Think about that. Think about it. People you'd never suspect have been sex assault victims. And he's singing Copa into the microphone and now Sean Combs comes in and does the Namaste. Really?

He can chill out behind bars for the rest of his life for all I care. What's the dichotomy? What is this? Well, it's one more male and females do it to minimizing the severity of sex trafficking. Nancy, I don't think our nation or world really understands what sex trafficking is. This whole question that maybe the women consented, that means they were in a relationship and not that they were coerced is so false when you think of the whole psychology of sex trafficking. I just gotta tell you he's got a nerve coming into the courtroom at all. Namaste. Namaste my rear end. Okay, joining us now outside the courthouse,

Tisa Tales. Tisa Tales star of Tisa Tales on YouTube. Tisa, what happened in court start at the beginning? Today, Mark Agnifilio, it was like a roller coaster. He started it off strong. I was actually very impressed. But very quickly, he took me down the path of disgust. Mark Agnifilio started off making a beautiful argument. And then it turned into weird blaming things. That Cassie, she was no angel. He even accused Cassie of saying she was

raped because she was dating her husband or as Mark like to put it the oldest trick in the book. I think he lost some of the jury. It was very disgusting, very very 1960s coded misogyny. I don't know what happened, but it was weird. The biggest shocker is when Mark Ivofilli was making his defense. And I'm not going to lie. He was doing very well. The judge saw this out for break and all of a sudden Marine called me, shut up. And I knew she met business cause she did the call me lean. Every time you see her lean slightly to the left, you know,

this woman needs business. She brought up three objections and said, I was trying to be nice because he was in the middle of giving his closing. But there are three ways where he was grossly improper and across the line. One implying that the jury needs to judge why we bought charges, telling them what the law is telling them that assault is only a misdemeanor. This is improper. And what's more, we are demanding a curative instruction right now.

It was like a bomb went off. The jury was out the room, of course. She gave them the respect of that. All the parties were arguing back and forth as to whether there should be some type of curative instruction. In the end, Shapiro was literally going to war with the judge saying, well, you don't understand. They did this and they did that and we didn't say anything.

And the judge was like, okay, well, that's you. You should have. Um, and they're like, you know, you're bringing this up. And the judge said, I'm not bringing anything up. The prosecution objected and I'm now addressing that objection. The final point of the motive is he, of the story, the moral of the story is he lost complete control of the jury after that. Because when we came back from break,

the judge gave a curative instruction telling them that don't listen to market agonophilial about what he told you about the government's motives. That's not your job. And moving forward, when it comes to anything in the law, you don't listen to the lawyers. You listen to me. Again, it had a very chilling effect on the jury. Some of the jury looked not puzzled, but you can tell after that, when Mark came back to do his closing, he had lost a little bit of his mojo. And that's when he got into disgusting, Cassie wanted it. She wasn't a victim, man. Tisa Tells explained to me the dynamic in the courtroom during the defense closing arguments. This is a funny thing. In the beginning, he was funny. He was charming. He has that old holly golly hometown lawyer in a big city act down pack, but he went too far with the

misogyny. When they were making the jokes in the beginning, they were giggling along. They were nodding along. They, if one of them even met him with a smile because he was making eye contact. But again, when he started going down on misogyny lane and actually saying that one of the biggest shocking things where I think he lost a lot of the jury is when he literally against all odds reround the intercontinental tape and then tried to convince us. He literally started off by saying like, it's unclear what happened in the tape. Could have been Cassie's could have been Sean's.

Maybe it was Sean. I don't know. We need to look into this. And then they walked us to the tape frame by frame and tried to show us how Cassie wasn't the victim and they even tried to paint a picture that she was the aggressor and that no violence really happened. To quote what he said, that was just something they do and the way they were in the relationship. It was shocking to see and at that point even some jurors were sitting there. They were looking at him. It was shocking to see. And at that point, even some jurors were sitting there. They were looking at him like he was crazy. One person had a look of disbelief.

Everybody had stopped taking notes and they were just looking at him. And I think at that moment, he realized he went a step too far. He tried to reel it in, but again, he was off. He kind of lost some of the timing. So it was a lot. Tisa tells we saw the female victims dragged through the mud and the defense closing statement stating it's quote all about the money. But when Cassie Ventura took the stand the money issue was long over. Her civil case was settled before she took the stand. So what was her motivation? To testify.

How was the jury reacting when Agnifilo referred to this as being all about the money? Okay. Where he started off on his road to depravity is by saying when he talked... First he started off talking about Diddy and how he self-made and blah blah blah blah. And by the way, there's not many that many black billionaires. To me, okay Mark, we just let it slide, okay? The issue was when he literally started talking about Cassie and saying, Cassie's a millionaire.

Cassie's fine. Cassie's not a victim. Almost implying that because she had to fight him to finel for that money that we should let this all go away. He even went so far as to say, and Jane, I don't know where she is right now and I'm sure she wants to be a good mother to her son, but we know that he's sitting there and she's sitting there probably watching this from the house that Sean Combs is paying for. They kept putting it back the money. Cassie's not a real victim because she has 30 million dollars.

Cassie's not a victim. And then he started painting Cassie into this almost like weird, seductress, Lolita. It was weird and it was disgusting when he was like Cassie knew what she was doing. She lured Sean out to Miami and then made love to him. We are talking about a woman that was like at the very most, very early 20s and a man that was 20, 25 years her senior. Might've even been double her age. Well, on top of that, he went into how Cassie was playing Kit Kutty and Sean. They kept trying to paint her as this Lolita vixen that

had all the men by the nose. And this is when they were even talking about the brutality that happened in the Intercontinental and the hotel room. Again, I think he went too far. I think he lost a lot of people and it was really disgusting to see. Tisa tells who was in the courtroom for closing arguments for the defense. His whole family was there. Everybody was there. Everybody was eager. The girls yesterday they seem to be tearful. Today they are trying to hold it together. He is in court with everybody there and they seem to have the rally call with Mark Agnifilio. The only thing is with Mark Agnifilio, I don't think he made the ground ways he thought.

It's like every time he got a win, he went too far and it would come back. But again, his family was there. They were looking hopeful. Tesa tells what happens now. You know, I usually have so many fun things to say about what's going on the trial. What happens now is we really have to think, is this a fight for America's soul? At what point do we look at abuse? What do we think is trafficking? And at what point in 2025, can we not have a defense lawyer sit up there and basically say she wanted it? And who cares if she suffered? she got $30 million. The displays and the misogynist narratives

that Mark Agnifilio was spouting around because I get it, you will do anything, you will make a pact with the devil right now to get your client off. But I really think he upped the ante and a lot of people are looking at the jury to actually see where are your lines? What do you have to believe?

What do you believe? And I think it's going to be very, very interesting to see how it plays out. That said, when you look at the prosecution rebuttal, they definitely have diddy-dedge rights, but it is going to be interesting on how much this whole Cassie wasn't a victim thing actually can play forward and get him out of the sex trafficking charges. Sydney Sumner, after all the namaste went down in the courtroom, what happened? Well, Mark Agnifilo came up to the stand to start giving his closing arguments and I'm

curious to see how short they're going to be. Are they going to be just like the case in chief, only a few minutes, wrapping this up nice and quickly for the defense? But his very first words was, you've heard two different trials. You've heard the evidence trial, and you've heard the prosecutor's trial, the words coming out of their mouths.

And those words are extremely exaggerated. This is just a swinger's lifestyle. That's what the evidence told you, but prosecutors are telling you this was a crime. Okay here we go. The minimization of what happened. That the women are hysterical. Why is it always women are hysterical and they're exaggerating and the female prosecutor that gave the closing arguments, which were brilliant by the way, Christy Slavik, exaggeration. You know Eric Faddis, there are women on that jury, right? Eric Faddis, veteran trial lawyer, joining us out of Colorado. He is the founding partner of Varner, Faddis, Elite, Legal, and former felony prosecutor.

That would be the last thing that I wanted to do if I were, Lord help me, a defense attorney is claiming that all the women are hysterical and exaggerating. You know, there's some women sitting on that jury going, say what? Yeah, Nancy, there are sensitive issues in this case, clearly. And as a defense attorney, you got to make sure you're not offending the sensibilities of the jurors. You can be passionate, you can be a zealous advocate, but you got to be careful about, you know, playing into some trope that women who have been victimized and who are survivors were just, you know, making it up or making a big deal out of nothing or something like that.

And so I think he's got to really be careful because he wounds the risk of rubbing them the wrong way. And then, you know, that impression is left with them back in the deliberation room. Straight back out to Sydney Sumner, Crime Stories Investigative Reporter. I understand that Sean Combs had his son Christian Combs along with what? His god uncle, Kanye, uh, very busy last night. Yes, they have released an EP today. And one of the songs on that EP is called Diddy Free. One of the songs on that EP is called Diddy Free and the lyrics say that we aren't going to sleep until we see Diddy Free. And those lyrics actually mention you Nancy. They don't understand but they stand me telling give me grace even Nancy.

So this isn't the first song that he's released speaking about his dad's legal troubles. And honestly, I don't think they're doing any positive things for him. This Bible might come in handy. This rifle might come in handy. I don't think threatening gun violence is really doing much to persuade anyone that your dad is innocent of these crimes. Okay, you know the jurors get to go home every night. They are not sequestered and they can be

exposed to this rap song created by God help him, Christian Combs and Kanye. Why you would want your child around Kanye I do not know, but that's a whole nother can of worms. Let's take a look at the lyrics. Ain't gonna sleep till we see Diddy free. Ain't gonna sleep till we see Diddy free. When it gets sus, they try to play the victim. Playing the victim, that's an attack on the victims. Outspoken I ain't keeping s*** in.

Blah blah blah blah blah now you know I noticed I'm part of it refers to a plan B which is an abortion drug which came up during this trial it says they ain't got to lose what are they talking about the victims or the jurors I ain't one of them And then it goes on to talk about Astro what Astro Glide and it says like damn why the am I in the tabloids? You know what that's a really good question. Why Combs' children have been dragged into this. They are being used as a PR tool. And now, you want to tell me this happened without Sean Combs knowing that it would drop just before the defense closing arguments? Further looking at the lyrics that dropped last night, the Bible might

come in handy. Like what? It's a prop. The rifle might come in handy. I don't know if my dad was charged with brandishing weapons. If that came out in evidence that I'm referring to the Shug night attack attempt that the minions described on the stand. I don't know if I would be talking about a rifle Then of course Christ gets dragged in it's one night. I want Jesus Christ to answer Then who they want to stop me the kid they want to stop the kid like a plan B Okay, we heard the testimony And we know about whether the jury understands it fully that

one woman was forced into an abortion. They don't understand me. Tell them give me grace, even Nancy. And it refers to bad boy throughout. That would be bad boy records. Okay, let's hear it. They don't understand but they stem me Tell them give me grace even Nancy Okay, you know, some people ask, are you angry? No, I'm not. I'm full of remorse for what

Sean Combs is doing to his children? Crime stories with Nancy Grace I'm Eric Faddis joining me veteran trial lawyer. Have you ever prosecuted a case where the children, unless they were the victims, thought their parents did it? Because I don't think I've ever had a case where the children thought their dad was guilty. Even adult children, they never believe the parent did it. Nancy, I can't think of one. Really, the family often rallies around the defendant in these cases, you know, provides support. They want to believe. They want to believe their family member is, you know, not guilty of these heinous

allegations. And that's understandable. But oftentimes, like you mentioned, the family can be brought in sort of as pawns, sometimes in the trial itself, sometimes outside the trial, especially in these highly publicized cases. And I think a lot of folks think that that may be what was going on with Diddy and his children. Let's take one more listen to Diddy Free. This is released by possibly the only person in the world that thinks Sean Combs is innocent and that would be his son

standing by him. God bless him. Christian King Combs and of course the illustrious Kanye. Me and you can be mad, I can have a spat, we can have whatever, you better get on your job. That's really that's that's that's all it is. Ain't no threat. I'm just being clear. Me and you can be mad, I can have a spat, we can have whatever, do not do that, you better get on your job. That's really, that's all it is. Ain't no threat, I'm just being clear. Get on your job? Get on your job?

Get on your job. That says to me sex trafficking. Get in there, end the freak off. It makes me so mad. I think I could chew a nail in half. Be videoed, having sex with multiple male sex workers, Sean Combs, you can kiss my hard-working rear end. Throughout the defense closing arguments, Agnifilo has done exactly what we expected, dragging the victims through the mud. He spent the morning pacing back and forth and back and forth in front of the jury rail. I always found that to be a crutch, a crutch, where you pause because you don't know what you're going to say next. But that said, he is dragging

the state's star witness through the mud as we predicted. Sydney Summer joining us. Crime Stories investigative reporter, what happened? Well, Cognizalo is making it seem that Kathy was not afraid of Sean Holmes in the slightest. He says they all know that there was domestic violence in that relationship, but this was not about control. Their relationship was about love. Finally, Artofilo pointed to Cassie's relationship with Kit Cuddy as this huge deception and huge betrayal and even called her a gangster for buying a burner phone to communicate with Kit Cuddy. So she's painting her to be this cheater, this liar, this betrayer, but I want to point out that it wasn't even

Kathy's idea to get that burner phone. Capricorn Clark was so terrified of what Combs would do when he learned that Kathy was seeing another man, and this was on a break. They had taken a break. They were not dating at this point when she started to see Kid Cudi. So there really was no overlap here in Kathy's mind. But Capricorn Clark, her close friend, Combs staffer, warned her that she could not mention Kid Cudi on cell phone that Combs paid for. So she went out and bought a burner phone to talk to him. So I think it's interesting that Agnes Filo is trying to make that seem like, oh, Kathy wasn't scared of him. She got a burner phone. Like she had all of this agency in this tower and she had no reason to be afraid of him when that wasn't even her idea in

the first place. Straight out to Dr. Bethany Marshall, our now psychoanalyst joining out of the Beverly Hills jurisdiction. She is the author of Dealbreakers. You can see her now on Peacock and you can find her at drbethanymarshall.com. Could I see the video, please, New York control room? Here's all the love Agnifilo is talking about. There's one person that at the get-go looked the other way. He tried, he tried to get Cassie Ventura to file a police report. She wouldn't. She just wanted to leave. Here's the love. There you go. What about that Dr. Bethany Marshall? There's all the love Agnifilo's talking about in closing statements. Agnifilo better mind his P's

and Q's with the jurors because jurors are real people just like you and I and they can feel insulted by these kinds of arguments. By now we all know with sex trafficking that the initial stage of the trafficker entrapping the victim is pretending that it's a love relationship but it quickly deteriorates when they start to share sexual fantasies with the victim of being with other people. The victim initially believes that they're pleasing their boyfriend, then it escalates to violence, which is what we're talking about right now. Cassie had a burner thrown because she was afraid for her life and for good reason. Allegedly, a pit daddy went and threw a molotov

or had one of his staff throw a molotov cocktail into Kid Cudi's car. Of course she had a burner phone. She's not stupid. She wanted to protect and preserve her life. Bethany, as much as I would love to talk about the molotov cocktail on Kid Cudi's car that obviously Sean Combs did with his designer scarf as a wick, Obviously, Sean Combs did with his designer scarf as a wick. I'm talking about the love right now. All the love that we're seeing. To Eric Faddis, when we talk to you about all the love that Agnifilo is describing to the jury as if what they should believe him instead of their lion eyes when they saw that

beat down at the Intercontinental, here's the thing. Before there was so much closed circuit TV, security cams, doorbell cams, you name it, right? Very often the defense could get away with so much because it wasn't on video. And I would have to argue to juries, what do you want? A video? Because there's not a video. These things happen behind closed doors. You have to decide who you believe. Him or her, right? And I would argue, think about it. Who's got skin in the game? Who's got something to lose? He is looking at life behind bars. He's got a dog in the fight. So think about that

when you weigh credibility. Who is telling the truth? Who to believe? But now we have the video. So Agnifilo is actually arguing she loved him and he loved her. So what are they supposed to just erase that video out of their mind? Because we have the video. Yeah, exactly. I mean, here, the defense can't really, you know, sort of fabricate something about a really rosy and nice relationship and rainbows and sunshine and everything else, you look at the video and clearly it's much more complicated than that. That being said, defense has no

choice but to go after Cassie's credibility. There have been some inconsistent statements and that is defense's duty. Did you ever see Love Story with Ryan O'Neil and AllyGrath? Did you ever see it? That's a yes-no. Simple yes-no, Fattus. No. Well, maybe you need to brush up on love story. You can even just listen to the song, okay? And that really is what Agnifilo's closing argument is. Okay, Lynn, I know you're sitting down, but you may need to lay down. Sidney Sonder, correct me if I'm wrong, because this morning in a very bold strategy, let me just say euphemistically, Agnifilo calls the relationship between

Combs and Ventura a great modern love story. No, no. I don't know if that's bold or just damn stupid. There's really no other way to put that. He also told the jurors that the couple's text messages, many of them of course were sexually graphic, were some of the quote most beautiful things I've ever read. Okay can we start with a great modern love story? Lynn? I'm almost speechless but I'm going to try to just pull myself up and go through this. First of all I did see love story actually saw it in a movie theater I was a kid but I saw it in the movie theater. Women love women love to get beaten you know pulled, pulled by their neck, their hair, their

hoodie. They love to get kicked when they're down. And you know what, this is the same old playbook. I am such a broken record here that we see every time I'm in court with victims, the justice system, they're always blaming them. That's what they do because they have nothing else. The strongest piece of evidence, in my opinion, is this video right here. And you know what, I woke up thinking about something today, Nancy, and I hope you just indulge me for a minute.

You know, right now everybody knows in public spaces and hotels we have cameras. So this guy isn't concerned at all with kicking her, beating her, dragging her, knowing, knowing, probably knowing there are cameras. You know what he's concerned with? It occurred to me he's concerned with holding his towel up. Have you noticed he has his hand on and he tucks it in at one point? Not concerned with the beating, holding his towel up and Nancy I'm going somewhere I never thought I would go. He's afraid for his towel to fall off off and I think you might have that prop somewhere around you because he doesn't want people to see his body. He doesn't care he's

beating a woman and we're all seeing it. We have video evidence he cares about keeping that. There you go I thought I we're all seeing it. We have video evidence. He cares about keeping that there you go I thought I'd never go here Nancy, but I have to go there because I woke up thinking about it He's more concerned that we don't see that TR I don't want to say the whole thing because this is a family program to see what he's some people I think I'll say far to refer to it as a little raisin, but that said He doesn't know anything about that. Well, he's holding that towel up. He's not concerned about beating.

Can I get your take on... Hey, wait for this. I'm just wondering if the women, especially on the jury, are like, what is he saying? Has he lost his mind? That's a sign. When I have to say, has he lost his mind this many times in one trial referring to the defense attorney? Another thing, Agnifilo argued, in addition to the horribly, hey, can we show the bruises on

Cassie's side? These are just some of the bruises. This is the loving relationship we're talking about. Now, okay, to Dr. Bethany Marshall, Agnifilo calls the relationship between Combs and his victim Cassie Ventura a quote great quote, great modern love story. He also says that their texts referring to Freakoffs and graphic sex were quote, some of the most beautiful things I've ever read. Poor thing. He obviously did not take English literature in college. But also, you're sitting down right Bethany? Okay, because Agnifilo argues to the jury, wait for it, Combs and Ventura were quote, their best selves when it came to sex. It was a relationship based on love and intensity. You mean the intensity of his right hook?

Best sex? A sex worker urinating in her mouth? Mouth sores? Vomiting? I don't think so. Brother Scott Peterson, the one in the Midwest, the police officer who wrote a Valentine's Note to his wife saying, nothing says I love you like a Glock, and then she ended up dead. That's where violence and love get confused as one and the same. Violence and love are not the same thing at all. They're very different. They're different properties. They're different attachment styles. I see no evidence of love in this relationship. None at all. Why would Cassie love somebody who abuses her? In fact, I think it's more the Stockholm syndrome, these supposed love letters, are when the victim is just happy that the perpetrator hasn't killed them. They feel inordinately

grateful to still be alive, and then they placate the abuser so that they will not be abused again. That's not a love letter, Nancy. That's a sex traffic victim trying to keep herself safe. ["Sex and the Future"] Crime stories with Nancy Grace. ["Sex and the Future"] PDD was walking on sunshine today.

Twinkle toes just dancing in two. They're feeling extremely confident going into closing argument. And they're acting like he is going to get away with something here. This is a man that thinks he's going to walk away. Straight back to Crime Stories investigative reporter on the case from the beginning. Sydney Sumner joining us. Okay, so in closing arguments this morning, a Nifilo hit and he hit hard, basically conjuring up the love song of Love Story.

With Ryan O'Neil and Ali McGraw, right, could you please refresh your recollections on what he actually fixed his mouth to say to the jury. His words exactly were a great modern love story describes the relationship between Sean Cone's and Kathy Ventura and he said that their text messages were some of the most beautiful things I've ever read. Okay Dr. Bethany Marshall. Dr. Bethany, where do I begin? To tell the story of how great a love can be. The sweet love story that is older than the sea. The simple truth about the love she brings to me. Where do I start? See, that's the problem right there. What Agniflo is doing right there

He is transplanting love onto vicious beatings where the victims would get mouth sores stomach ailments STDs that were so strong The antibiotics wouldn't work on them anymore. The beatings, the draggings, the slices to the head. And he calls this the greatest love story he's ever seen. Is anybody buying that? That's why women continue to be beaten and killed. He's saying it was a great

love story. We can all see that there was no love there at all. But you know, Agnifilo is actually engaging in a logic flop because let's say there was love, which there wasn't. That doesn't matter in terms of the charges. All that has to be proven is that once he used force, fraud, or coercion to get somebody to perform sex acts. So why does it matter if there was a great love story, which we know there wasn't? But most of all, this just serves as a huge disservice to women. And I think it's interesting that a man is making this argument.

Doesn't he have daughters, sisters, a mother? Doesn't he know what sex abuse is? I know, I know he's just trying to mount a defense, but I don't know how he could get up there and just lie. It's so, so unfortunate. It's like he's manipulating the jury. Another thing that we must keep in mind is the state has a right to a rebuttal argument. Explain very quickly Eric Faddis. Because the state has the burden they get essentially two closing arguments an initial one and then the defense goes and then the state goes again and it really has to be responsive to the defense's argument and encountering some of the points defense makes during their closing argument. Guys, the world has known what was happening behind closed doors forever. The feds finally acted when Cassie Ventura bought a civil lawsuit and got a settlement

of $20 million the very next day. Sean Combs issuing a pathetic, sad sack apology that went out on his insta. I mean even Eminem rapped about it. Listen. Did he? He didn't just say raper. Did he? mean, come on. He is rapping about it. He's waving it right under the feds' noses. Everybody knew. Okay, what about this? On Conan.

And this was years before these charges. When you go to a hotel, anytime you go to a hotel, you don't just check in the way everybody else does. You send someone ahead to prepare the hotel room for you. That's called preparing the sexy. Of course as we learned at trial, the people really preparing the sexy, as he refers to it, are the minions. Translation in legal terms, all of the employees and co-defendants, co-conspirators that create a criminal enterprise. Now that

was from our friends at Late Night with Conan O'Brien and there's more. I work hard and I just like my room to be sexy. Sure. You like to prepare the sexy is what you're saying. You can't just count on the sexy, prepare the sexy. You have to make sure you go through the proper measures to make sure that your sexy is there when you arrive. Can you say criminal enterprise? All of the employees that had to clean up the free coughs. One involved two slip and falls. The oil, the baby oil, was so deep and thick in the room. Again from our friends at Late Night with Conan O'Brien. And, wait for it, Coase even goes on national TV and jokes about locking women in the hotel room. If you don't have what they need, they're gonna leave. Right. Gotta keep them there. Right.

You need locks on the doors. This is sounding kind of dangerous now. It's a little kinky. Yeah. Again from our friends at Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Dr. Bethany, many a true word is spoken in jest. I mean, all of the predictors were there. This is a true confession, and if it had been a female host, do you think she would jokingly say this sounds dangerous? She would look at him and say this is inappropriate. So I'm really concerned about how men are conspiring in the situation to minimize what is happening. You know that Eminem song, Nancy?

He's not minimizing it. He is calling Shawn Combs out because Eminem has a daughter he loves, Haley. Eminem is very protective of women, so here he's outing P. Diddy and nobody pays attention. It's like a societal collusion on the fact that women should be oppressed in this way. You know, it brings to mind to Sydney Sumner, Crime Stories Investigative Reporter, that moment of testimony. And if I were the prosecution in this case I would be beating on this with a hammer. If I had a hammer man I'd be singing out in the courtroom where Cassie Ventura in the middle of a beating people were just standing around doing nothing and she looked at them and

to me this is a poignant moment of this trial and she said can't you see what he's doing to me? Why aren't you doing anything? And I would put it to that jury. Are you gonna be one of them? Why aren't you doing anything? Convict him! Do you remember that moment in trial, Sydney Sumner? Absolutely. That was former assistant George Kaplan testifying about one of the violent incidents he witnessed that led to him quitting, leaving this job saying, I can't be a part of this. And that was on a 2015 flight to Las Vegas on Combs private jet. And Kaplan said that he heard the sound of glass shattering. he turned to look at the couple and he saw Kathy laying with her back on the ground

Powering covering her face with her hands and cones was standing over her holding a whiskey glass over his head boys to like throw this at Kathy's face and In this standoff, Kathy screams out, isn't anybody seeing this? Because there's other security guards, Kaplan's on this flight. They were not alone on this plane with Kaplan and multiple people saw this and did nothing. We are headed to a verdict watch here at Crime Stories as we wait for justice to unfold in the Monahan Federal Courthouse. We remember an American hero, Sergeant J.D. White, Angleton PD, just 51, killed in the line of duty, served 19 years in L.E. law enforcement, leaves behind a grieving wife, Amy, and children, Jonathan,

Austin and Rachel. American hero, J.D. White. Nancy Grace signing off. Goodbye, friend. you This is an iHeart podcast.