Defense Attorney Josh Kolsrud Breaks Down the The Latest Developments from P Diddy Combs Trial

Earlier this week on Arizona’s Family News, defense attorney Josh Kolsrud provided an assessment of the second week in court for Sean “P Diddy” Combs, who faces charges including sex trafficking, racketeering and conspiracy. Combs has pleaded not guilty, and over the prior week the prosecution’s star witness—his ex-partner Cassie Ventura—testified for more than 20 hours while eight and a half months pregnant. Here are the key takeaways from Kolsrud’s analysis:

1. Cassie Ventura’s Four Days on the Stand: Kolsrud praised Ventura for her stamina and credibility under difficult circumstances. Testifying Tuesday through Friday, she offered detailed recollections of a 2016 incident at the InterContinental Hotel. “What she did was truly remarkable as a victim—showing your soul before the entire world,” Kolsrud said, noting that jurors who had never met her would now see her as a sympathetic figure.
2. The Video Evidence: A Game-Changer According to Kolsrud, the most damning piece of the prosecution’s case is the security footage showing Combs assaulting Ventura. He explained why it matters: • It directly proves elements of at least three of the four charges, including the racketeering count. • Under the RICO statute, the government must show two “predicate offenses.” Here, Kolsrud identified them as kidnapping—since Ventura was dragged back to the hotel room and prevented from leaving—and bribery, because Combs allegedly offered $100,000 to a security guard to destroy the recording. • The guard’s decision to preserve the video, rather than destroy it, proved critical. “Thank God he didn’t,” Kolsrud observed, “and recorded the video just in case somebody deleted it.”
3. The Consent Battle: Kolsrud underscored that the trial ultimately hinges on whether Ventura consented. He contrasted this case with the high-profile Depp-Heard litigation: “Both sides here concede she’s a nice person. The entire case is just whether or not she consented.” Under Arizona law, the prosecution need only prove non-consent once, while the defense must show consent at every point—no small task in light of the video.
4. Will Jurors Buy the “Bible Moment”? In an effort to humanize Combs, the defense presented him reading a Bible on the stand. Kolsrud questioned the tactic: “Jurors are smarter than that. You can’t dress him up like Mr. Rogers with a Bible and expect them to think he’s a preacher.” He warned that overplaying piety risks making the defense seem insincere.
5. A Long Road Ahead: Looking forward, Kolsrud noted that the prosecution’s case-in-chief is expected to last three to four weeks, although the jury itself was vetted over eight weeks. “It’s going to be interesting to see what his defense is,” he said, emphasizing that this trial still has many more witnesses and weeks of testimony to come.

Conclusion

Josh Kolsrud’s observations highlight just how pivotal the video evidence and Ventura’s testimony are for the prosecution—and how high the bar is for the defense to prove consent. As the trial unfolds over the next several weeks, every new witness and piece of evidence will be scrutinized through the lens Kolsrud has sketched: a fight over the truth of one critical evening in 2016 and its legal reverberations today. Stay tuned for further developments as this case moves toward its climax.