Dria, how would you describe Cassy’s demeanor when she took the stand today? When she walked in there, Rachel, she had on a brown dress, form-fitting, visibly pregnant, head held high, and did not make any eye contact with the defendant with Shawn Combmes. What was Shawn’s reaction when he saw Cassie enter the courtroom? You know, attorneys say that this is the first time that they’ve met since 2018 when she attended the funeral for Kim Porter, uh, which is the mother of Shawn Combmes’s three children.
So to watch Shawn Combmes watching her was really interesting because they haven’t seen each other in at least six years.
Uh but he can’t say anything. You know, this is a moment for him where he has to be silent. And right now we’re hearing what she says in terms of what happened during the course of their over 10-year relationship. Is he showing any reaction to what she is saying on the stand? I can tell you that immediately the moment she opened her mouth, you could see that Combmes was listening intently to everything that she had to say, as well as those jurors.
People know that she was that star witness, the key person in all of this. When you think about that civil suit that came out in 2023 that was settled the day after, she really is the person that connects all the dots. When you look at the indictment and you look at some of the charges, she’s the one talking about the freakoffs and what was involved and how she had to act. The prosecution is asking her questions to show that she wasn’t in control.
She said that Shawn Combmes directed everything from what she had on to the lighting in the room to how she was supposed to interact with the person that she was having sex with.
And again, just to reiterate what what is a freakoff? The freakoff essentially was something that Cassie said she learned about through Shawn Combmes about a year into their relationship. He described it as voyerism, wanting to watch her have sex with someone else. And she said that she did it because she was 22, 21, she was young. She didn’t know any better.
And that she wanted to please Shan Combmes. And at some point in time, she actually had said that she looked forward to the freakoffs. Why did Cassie express looking forward to these said freakoffs? When the prosecution asked her, “Was there ever a time that you enjoyed the freakoffs?” This is when Cassie got choked up and she said, “I did, but only because I got to spend one-on-one time with Combmes and I really did love him.
” And that is speaking to the psychological abuse in addition to the physical abuse that she potentially experienced as well.
Yeah, she’s definitely laying out someone who was young, who was influenced by wanting to have this record career. She signed a 10 album deal with Bad Boy Entertainment led by Shawn Combmes. uh and basically describes being enamored by Shawn Combmes, um loving him, not knowing about certain things sexually and him sort of telling her, teaching her about that. Uh and what you hear is someone that was young and said, and she even said, you know, I was young, I was naive, I didn’t know any better.
Uh, but she’s really telling the story of someone who thought she was going to be with someone in this music industry that was going to help her career, uh, that cared about her, but quickly learned after the freakoffs, uh, that that wasn’t the case.
And what I thought was also interesting is she said that after that first freakoff, she said she felt dirty. She didn’t want to do it. Uh, and when she brought up the idea of having a conversation about the freakoffs in an email, which the jurors saw, um, she said she backpedalled in the email because Col responded by saying, “I know you don’t want to do it.” And she said, “Oh, no.
Well, it’s not that.” But that was the beginning. That was in 2010 where she brings up in an email that she wanted to have a conversation about this. Uh, and in her words, she didn’t want to do it, but she felt like she had to do it. Gosh, it’s so difficult to hear all of these details.
And since taking the stand, Cassie has been emotional.
What made Cassie emotional on the stand? I think what made Cassie emotional is having to describe the details of the freak off and why she did it. When she talked about wanting to do it to please Shawn Combmes, that’s when she broke down. Up until that point, she had just been answering the questions.
She’s a little soft-spoken at times, but that’s when she got emotional. When she had to answer the question about if she enjoyed it, that’s when she broke down because she said, “I enjoyed being with Shawn Combmes.” And she says, “I did it because it made him happy.” What is the expressions of the jurors look like? The jurors are laser focused on what Cassie has to say.
And that’s to be expected, right? Because she is the person who will likely be on the stand, according to attorneys, for two, maybe three days. She’s the one that was in the relationship with Shawn Combmes for over 10 years. So, she’s got a lot to say and she’s just getting started. Just how important is Cassie’s testimony to the prosecution?
I think it really connects the dots, Rachel, when you look at that initial indictment and what’s being alleged. She really is the person that has probably the most information about this idea that the prosecution says, which is creating a criminal enterprise for John Comb sexual desires. Um, something else that the juror saw today that sort of connects it back to this alleged criminal enterprise are seven photos of people that were very close to Shan Combmes.
One even his former chief of staff. And these were all people uh that Cassie Ventur was able to name and explain the functions in terms of what they did, security, driver, chief of staff, someone that handled financials.
So, um, it’s showing that she knew some of these people again because she was with him, around him for so long. What have reactions in the courtroom been when explicit details of these free offs are being described? Honestly, I’m looking at his family a lot as these details are coming out and they really don’t have a reaction. They’re listening. I thought it was interesting yesterday that during part of that testimony with the escort, the male escort, uh the the girls left.
So Sean Combmes has three daughters that are in the courtroom. They left for some of that testimony yesterday, but today they are staying through all of that testimony from Cassie Ventura. Cassie’s Cassie’s testimony is clearly explosive to to both sides, both the prosecution and the defense. What other celebrities might we see take the stand in this case? You know, there was a moment early on when Cassie mentioned Dallas Austin, who she called a friend who’s a producer.
So, I don’t know if that’s someone that we’re going to hear from. Um, we know that there were pictures shown to prospective jurors that are well-known celebrities, you know, Kanye West, Kid Cuddy, Lauren London. We don’t know though how they fit yet into why they were even asked. Do you know these people? Are you familiar with them?
So, the prosecution is questioning Cassie right now. Still questioning her. Defense hasn’t even got a chance to I mean, that might change based on the timing, but um you know, because she’s such a key witness, it’s likely that she will be on that stand the rest of the day. What are you learning about the nicknames that were used between Cassie and Shawn? Yeah, we learned that Cassie referred to him as Pop Pop and Shawn Combmes would refer to her as CC.
The prosecution says, “What does CC stand for?” They said she said Cassie Combmes. What kind of witness is Cassie coming off as to the jurors? I think naturally when you look at her visually, people see that she’s pregnant and looking like she’s due any day now. So, they might, you know, have empathy, sympathy for her in that way, but we don’t really know.
We know that they’ve been instructed to be fair and impartial.
Uh as to what type of witness she’s coming off as. She’s describing someone that she was someone she said that was trying to figure out who she was at that time and who she was allowed to be. Now you’re looking at somebody that’s almost 40 years old, totally different person. But even in describing what was going on at her at that time, taking drugs, trying to please Shawn Combmes, uh she’s really just sort of laying out the case for her not having a lot of control.
So I think that’s the takeaway. This is someone who is making it very clear that at that particular time in her life, she says she did not have any control really over what she wore, what she did, who she was having sex with. She’s a different person now. But I think when she talks about those details and even reflecting on them for herself, as we saw today, she broke down on that courtroom. Her husband’s been by her side.
He’s in the courtroom.
Have you been able to see his reaction? I was sitting about two rows behind Cassy’s husband and he also not showing any emotion that I can see visibly on his face, but just staying there and there obviously to support his wife. But I can only imagine how difficult it must be for for everybody listening to these details, but definitely somebody who’s as close to her as her husband.
As found on YouTube
