{"id":5934,"date":"2025-05-20T12:13:58","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T12:13:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/dawn-richard-says-he-hit-cassie-with-usher-present\/"},"modified":"2025-05-20T12:13:58","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T12:13:58","slug":"dawn-richard-says-he-hit-cassie-with-usher-present","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/dawn-richard-says-he-hit-cassie-with-usher-present\/","title":{"rendered":"Dawn Richard Says He Hit Cassie With Usher Present"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

\n\tDanity Kane singer Dawn Richard continued her testimony Monday at Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs\u2019 sex-trafficking trial, telling jurors that the rapper would \u201cfrequently\u201d assault Cassie Ventura \u2014 including once at a restaurant in front of Usher and other celebrities.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe testimony from Richard, who rose to fame on Combs\u2019 MTV reality show Making the Band<\/em>, kicked off the second week of Combs\u2019 criminal trial, in which the music mogul is accused of coercing Ventura and others into participating in drug-fueled sex shows known as \u201cfreak-offs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDays after she told the jury that she witnessed Combs abusing Ventura \u2014 including once trying to attack her with a skillet \u2014 Richard recounted other alleged assaults, according to CNN<\/a><\/em>, The New York Times<\/a><\/em> and other media reports.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn one alleged incident, she testified that Combs punched Ventura in the stomach at a Los Angeles restaurant where Usher and other celebrities were present. \u201cShe immediately bent over, he [Combs] told her to leave,\u201d Richard testified, according to People<\/a><\/em>. \u201cNo one intervened.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tA rep for Usher did not immediately return a request for comment from Billboard<\/em>. The New York Post <\/em>reported that Richard\u2019s testimony left it \u201cunclear\u201d if Usher and other A-listers present had actually witnessed the alleged attack.<\/p>\n

\n\tLater on Monday (May 19), Richard was grilled by defense attorney Nicole Westmoreland<\/strong> over apparent inconsistencies in her testimony, including the infamous skillet statements. In one such exchange, defense attorney pressed Richard about changes in her recollections about Combs\u2019 drug use.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYou would agree with me that as time progresses your story changes,\u201d Ms. Westmoreland asked. \u201cYes,\u201d Richard replied.<\/p>\n

\n\tCombs was indicted in September, charged with running a sprawling criminal operation aimed at facilitating the freak-offs \u2014 elaborate events in which Combs and others allegedly pressured Ventura and other victims into having sex with escorts while he watched and masturbated. Prosecutors also say the star and his associates used violence, money and blackmail to keep victims silent and under his control.<\/p>\n

\n\tOnce one of the music industry\u2019s most powerful men, Combs is accused of racketeering conspiracy (a so-called RICO charge), sex trafficking and violating a federal prostitution statute. If convicted on all of the charges, he faces a potential life prison sentence.<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring opening statements last week, defense attorneys told jurors that Ventura and other women had consensually taken part in the sex parties. They admitted that Combs had committed domestic violence during his and Ventura\u2019s \u201ctoxic\u201d relationship and had unusual sexual preferences, but that he had never coerced her into participating in his \u201cswinger\u201d lifestyle.<\/p>\n

\n\tVentura, the prosecution\u2019s star witness, spent four days on the stand last week detailing how Combs allegedly controlled and physically abused her during their 11-year relationship.<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter Richard wrapped up on Monday, Ventura\u2019s longtime friend Kerry Morgan took the stand, testifying about multiple incidents in which she says she saw Combs attack Ventura. In one, she said Combs entered a bathroom and that she could hear Ventura screaming.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was guttural, terrifying. I heard her screaming so I went to the long hallway, they were coming out of the master bedroom and he was dragging her by her hair,\u201d Morgan said, according to NBC News<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n\tLater in the afternoon, jurors heard from David James, a former assistant to Combs, who testified that he once told Ventura she should leave the superstar, but that she felt she was unable to do so.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0\u201cI can\u2019t. I can\u2019t get out,\u201d James said Ventura told him, citing the fact that he controlled her music career, paid for her lodgings and was her source of income: \u201cI just didn\u2019t think that she could easily leave.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe trial is expected to pick up again on Tuesday (May 20) with more testimony from James. The proceedings are expected to last until early July. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Danity Kane singer Dawn Richard continued her testimony Monday at Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs\u2019 sex-trafficking trial, telling jurors that the rapper would \u201cfrequently\u201d assault Cassie Ventura \u2014 including once […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5935,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3780,3624,1067,5747,2350,6022],"class_list":["post-5934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawyers","tag-cassie","tag-dawn","tag-hit","tag-present","tag-richard","tag-usher"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5934\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}