Day 24: Deleted Messages, Disturbing Videos, and Desperate Defense Plays in the Diddy Trial
By Trinity Barnette
A Day of Evidence, Emotion, and Evasion
Day 24 of the Sean “Diddy” Combs trial delivered one of the most overwhelming floods of evidence yet—emotionally, visually, and strategically. The courtroom saw it all: summary charts, personal text messages, covert hotel bookings, sex trafficking allegations, and, for the first time, explicit video footage of the alleged abuse. Jurors flinched. One covered her eye.
As the prosecution walked the jury through deeply incriminating records—some dating back to 2009—the defense tried desperately to reframe the narrative. They pointed to old messages with flirty undertones, including Valentine’s Day plans and gift emojis, hoping to cast doubt on accusers’ credibility. But even their carefully selected “receipts” couldn’t erase the pattern of control, coercion, and sexual exploitation laid out before the jury.
From D-Roc’s shady communication chain with “Mia,” to travel invoices linked to alleged “Freak Offs,” to a chief of staff pleading for honesty—this wasn’t just another day in court. It was a reckoning.
Combs, D-roc & Mia — The Text Chain That Won’t Die
One of the most revealing threads from Day 24 involved Sean Combs, his former security guard Damion “D-Roc” Butler, and a former assistant known under the pseudonym “Mia.” The prosecution presented call logs, message timestamps, and witness testimony that painted a chilling picture of ongoing contact—long after Mia cut ties and well after accusations against Combs began surfacing.
It started on Thanksgiving 2023, when D-Roc reached out to Combs, offering support and saying, “If you need a real friend, I’m here.” A few days later, he texted Mia for the first time in two years:
“D-Roc then says, a lot has been going on.”
Mia testified that D-Roc called her that day and referenced Combs and Cassie Ventura’s relationship, breaking a long silence. Soon after, D-Roc gave Combs Mia’s phone number, prompting Combs to reach out himself. He sent warm, emotionally loaded messages—
“Love you brother,” to D-Roc
“Hey Mia, it’s Puff… Let me know when you get 10 min to talk. Love,” to Mia
But Mia didn’t engage.
That didn’t stop Combs. He texted again on February 7, 2024, pleading:
“You were my right hand for years… I just need to speak to you to remember who was even around me.”
He added, “If you don’t want to, all good… Just let me know. Love.”
In court, the defense used these texts to argue that Combs wasn’t threatening or manipulative—just trying to reconnect with an old employee. But prosecutors emphasized the timing. This sudden wave of outreach happened after Cassie’s lawsuit dropped and “Jane” had testified, right when pressure on Combs was peaking.
More texts showed D-Roc acting as the middleman, forwarding Mia’s messages to Combs and even offering her help with “debt,” to which she replied:
“That’s my problem. I’ll figure it out one day.”
Despite Combs’ insistence that he “didn’t want anything from her,” the jury saw clear persistence and indirect pressure—with D-Roc trying to call Mia twice after Combs failed to reach her.
And then it stopped. A paralegal confirmed that after February 7, no further attempts were made. The silence, however, may have come too late.
Jane, the defense, and the Valentine’s Day spin
If prosecutors built their case on disturbing patterns, the defense spent Day 24 trying to unravel that narrative thread by thread. Their focus? “Jane”—the accuser who testified to years of abuse, coercion, and hotel-night trauma at the hands of Sean Combs.
Defense attorney Teny Geragos zeroed in on a single Valentine’s Day text from 2022. It was a message Jane sent to Combs’ chief of staff, Kristina Khorram:
“I’m excited to surprise him.”
On the surface, it sounded harmless. Maybe even romantic. But that’s exactly what the defense wanted the jury to believe. Geragos read it aloud and followed it up with photos Jane sent that same day—images of a hotel room decorated with rose petals and heart balloons. It was a calculated attempt to reframe Jane not as a survivor, but as a willing participant.
But prosecutors quickly reminded the court what Jane actually said under oath. That same Valentine’s Day, she testified, had been one of the infamous “hotel nights”—a term she used to describe orchestrated sexual encounters with male entertainers. Encounters she said were arranged by Combs and left her emotionally wrecked.
Later, the jury heard another message—this time from February 2023—where Jane pushed back against pressure to make plans with Combs:
“My answer to him is no, and it is still no.”
It was a stark contrast to the Valentine’s Day text. And it echoed her earlier testimony—that these hotel nights weren’t about choice, they were about survival. Even if she smiled through a text or played along, it didn’t mean she was safe. It meant she was trapped.
By selectively highlighting one flirty message, the defense hoped to spark doubt. But it may have just reminded the jury how complicated abuse can look from the outside.
The receipts nobody could ignore
If the defense hoped to distract, the prosecution came ready to refocus—with hard receipts. This wasn’t just about vibes anymore. It was about evidence: flight records, hotel invoices, videos, and a paper trail that stretched across years.
Special Agent DeLeassa Penland took the stand as a summary witness and walked the jury through travel logs and messages that corroborated Cassie Ventura’s testimony. One highlighted incident? A “meeting” in December 2009 at the London Hotel in NYC—booked for Combs, Ventura, and an unidentified man who Ventura said often joined them for “freak offs.” The flight for that man? Booked by Combs’ team. The hotel? Paid for by Combs’ American Express.
The pattern didn’t stop there. The jury saw a hotel invoice from October 2012, reserved under the name “Janet Clark” and paid for in cash. They were told it was used for yet another secretive meeting. Another room that weekend—booked under “Frank Black.” Both rooms linked back to Combs and Ventura.
For the first time, jurors were shown clips of explicit sexual encounters. Just over two minutes total, pulled from footage recorded in 2012 and 2014. Witnesses and jurors wore headphones. The courtroom fell silent—except for the flicker of the screen and a few visible reactions: one juror covering her eye, another flinching.
It was more than uncomfortable. It was corroboration—backed by metadata, receipts, and silence that said more than words ever could.
Tangled finances and the final moments of the day
As the prosecution tightened its grip on Combs’ alleged paper trail, attention turned to the money.
Defense attorney Teny Geragos tried to downplay the chaos by zeroing in on expense messages from Combs’ security chief Faheem Muhammad. He had sent texts to Combs, Kristina Khorram (his chief of staff), and a Combs account manager asking to approve payments for “PD personal” expenses. The defense seemed to imply it was all normal business—but prosecutors had already laid groundwork suggesting these payments often funded hotel rooms, flights, and personal favors that blurred the line between corporate and criminal.
Khorram herself had sent a telling message in November 2023, writing:
“If you cannot be honest with me, this doesn’t work.”
She referenced Combs’ “Kryptonite” and accused him of hiding things. When he responded with, “Come take my phone,” she wasn’t moved.
“It’s not about your phone. If you’re starting to lie, that will break me.”
From the receipts to the regret, the prosecution made one thing clear: the people closest to Combs were breaking ranks.
To end the day, a juror was dismissed for failing to disclose accurate information about where he lived—fueling courtroom whispers and drawing sharp eyes from the defense team. The judge said he’d clarify to both sides what was told to the remaining jurors the next morning.
By the time court adjourned, the jury had seen messages, heard testimony, and for the first time, watched explicit videos tied directly to the case.
It wasn’t just damning—it was undeniable.
