A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Closing arguments are set to begin today in the trial of Sean Combs. The hip-hop mogul faces charges, including sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy. He's pleaded not guilty, but if convicted on all counts, Combs could spend the rest of his life in prison. NPR's Isabella Gomez Sarmiento has been covering the trial. She joins us now to bring us up to speed. And a warning - we will be mentioning violent acts and alleged sex trafficking. So, Isabella, seventh week of the trial, where do things stand?
ISABELLA GOMEZ SARMIENTO, BYLINE: So the last thing that happened in the trial was the defense rested its case in under 30 minutes. The government, on the other hand, called more than two dozen witnesses over the course of six weeks. Two of those witnesses were ex-girlfriends who accused Combs of sex trafficking - the singer Cassie Ventura and another woman who testified using the pseudonym Jane to protect her identity. Both of them testified that Combs pressured them into drug-fueled sexual encounters with male escorts. They both said that there were moments of domestic violence in the relationships.
But the charges against Combs are more complex than simply the abuse they're accusing him of. For example, one of the charges he faces, like you mentioned, is for racketeering conspiracy. So there were lots of other witnesses that included employees, law enforcement agents and some of those escorts. What the prosecution is trying to depict with all of this testimony and evidence is an entire criminal enterprise.
I spoke to Jennifer Beidel. She's a former prosecutor in the same district that Combs is being tried in, and she says it's just hard to know what the jury's thinking.
JENNIFER BEIDEL: As a prosecutor, you think through, I'm going to lay this out in this super compelling way. And then you have no way of knowing whether the jury was in any way persuaded by that thought process.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, the government's closing arguments start today, actually. So what's the big picture? I mean, what picture are they going to try and paint for those jurors?
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Well, you know, they spent a month and a half mapping out a constellation of characters, crimes and evidence to build their story. Those crimes include kidnapping, arson and even forced labor. So proving the racketeering charge requires prosecutors to convince the jury not only that Combs abused Ventura and Jane, but that he used his businesses to silence these women. The prosecution has described all of these elements, and now they have to explain how all of the pieces fit together.
MARTÍNEZ: You mentioned the defense's case took - what? - less than 30 minutes. What do you expect they're going to say during their closing arguments?
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: I mean, the defense has said from the very beginning that Combs is a complicated guy. His own lawyers have said, yeah, he was violent. He was not always a good boss. But in some ways, they have a more straightforward job, which is simply to argue that whatever bad things he may have done don't add up to trafficking and that all of this messy personal stuff was very separate from his legitimate companies. Jennifer Beidel says we're likely going to see the defense double down on the idea that the government might be overcharging Combs.
BEIDEL: I do think it's smart for the defense to have accepted that some bad conduct happened here. They're not trying to run away from things that have obviously been proven and that might very well be state court crimes.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: So the point the defense is likely going to highlight is, does this all rise to the level of the federal crimes Combs is being charged with?
MARTÍNEZ: Quickly, Isabella, what's the timeline here?
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: So prosecution closing arguments will start today. The defense will do the same thing tomorrow. Then the jury will start deliberating, and we just have to wait for them to land on a verdict.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. That's NPR's Isabella Gomez Sarmiento. Thanks a lot.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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