Sean Combs trial updates: Court adjourned until Tuesday after Kid Cudi testimony

It is "very common" for victims to stay in abusive relationships not because they are unconcerned about the abuse but because they feel trapped, an expert witness testified Wednesday at the sex trafficking and racketeering trial of Sean Combs.

"No victim wants to be abused," Dr. Dawn Hughes said. "They stay in the relationship because it's not just about hitting. It's about a lot of abusive behaviors that make a victim feel trapped."

She also testified that abuse is often not the only defining characteristic of a relationship. "There's almost always love," Hughes said. "It creates an intense psychological bond that creates an attachment with their abuser."

Expert witnesses are not allowed to examine the defendant, alleged victims or witnesses in a criminal case. Hughes spoke generally about why victims of repeated violence and sexual assault remain in a relationship, though it cannot be lost on the jury that her testimony followed days of testimony about Combs and Cassie Ventura.

"It's hard for us to break up with someone under the best of circumstances," Hughes said. "When you have all this violence and abuse, you're just trying to live day to day in this very micro way," explaining that emotional resources become devoted to avoiding getting hit instead of how to get out of an abusive relationship.

She said trauma victims experience a "tremendous amount" of shame, humiliation and degradation.

"If you can't talk about what's happening in the relationship then you can't get help. And who's going to talk about all these humiliating, degrading things that are happening to you," Hughes said.

If victims are able to escape an abusive relationship, Hughes told the jury they often return, as Ventura testified she did repeatedly with Combs.

"They return for the love, they return for the companionship. They return for the good version of the partner that they love," Hughes said.

She described the coping mechanisms of abuse victims.

"These are trying to talk to your partner, try to stop the violence. Trying to placate and give compliance to make your partner OK. Sometimes it's physically fighting back," Hughes said.

Ventura testified about all of them.

Homeland Security Investigations special agent Gerard Gannon walked a .45 caliber handgun in front of the jury after he testified the gun was found in a red suitcase in the guesthouse on Combs' Miami Beach property.

The jury examined photos of the ammunition that he said was loaded into the gun at the time it was found.

The jury also saw photos of other items Gannon said were seized from the home during the March 2024 search, including various illicit drugs inside a wooden box with a gold "Puffy" label on a bathroom countertop. There were also two boxes in a second-floor closet that contained bottles of baby oil, Astroglide lubricant and a green and yellow rubber duck.

The indictment described these items as "various Freak Off supplies."

On cross-examination, Gannon testified agents encountered six individuals on the property during the search, including a music producer and caretakers. Each was placed in handcuffs until the agents established who they were.

After Gannon showed the jury AR-15 style rifles with defaced serial numbers seized from the home, defense attorney Teny Geragos said there are other ways law enforcement officials can trace firearms in other ways, including fingerprints and DNA testing. Neither Geragos nor Gannon mentioned it is illegal to possess a firearm with an obliterated or altered serial number.

The defense introduced an exhibit under seal, described as a photograph depicting Combs and others. Gannon did recognize it and was not asked about it.

Dr. Dawn Hughes, psychologist, is the next witness.

Before testimony resumed, federal prosecutors signaled Kid Cudi would not testify today as they previously indicated.

They said they sent the judge a note indicating as much at 10:45 p.m. The note was not included on the court docket.

The HSI agent is back on the witness stand showing pictures of a Gucci bag seized from Combs that contained plastic bags of different drugs, including MDMA. Orange tablets with the Tesla logo tested positive for MDMA, prosecutors said.

The proximity of two AR-15 assault-style rifles with defaced serial numbers, baby oil, Astroglide, lingerie and seven-inch platform heels is, for federal prosecutors, a visual representation of their allegation that Sean Combs used violence and threats of violence to coerce women into stage-managed sexual activity with male prostitutes, an allegation he denies.

The upper receivers of the guns were found wrapped in a towel. The lower receivers and magazines were found in a box. The components were found on the same main bedroom shelving unit as the items that several witnesses have testified were used in "freak offs."

Special agent Gerard Gannon of Homeland Security Investigations returned to the witness stand Wednesday to show the jury more items he said were seized from Combs' Miami Beach home. The cutting open of evidence bags and holding up the actual items otherwise depicted in photographs added a dramatic flourish.

The jury heard of the AR-15s the same day they heard about other guns. David James, a former assistant to Combs, testified Combs had three handguns in his lap as he drove to Mel's Diner in Los Angeles to confront rival producer Suge Knight.

Once Gannon finishes his testimony, the jury is expected to hear from Dawn Hughes, a psychologist who specializes in sex trauma. Federal prosecutors are hoping she will explain to the jury why Cassie Ventura would stay in a relationship that Combs has conceded was abusive, marred by jealousy, drug use and domestic violence.