Sean Combs sex trafficking trial updates: Cassie's testimony ends after days of describing abuse

The evidentiary phase of Sean Combs' trial began Monday by transporting jurors to March 2016, when Combs was caught on hotel surveillance footage attacking his then-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura

The first witness is Israel Florez, an LAPD officer who was working security at the InterContinental Hotel in Century City, CA when he said he responded to a call for "a woman in distress" on the sixth floor.

"After I responded, when I got out of the elevator, I observed a male and female in the elevator lobby," Florez said, adding that he recognized the male as Sean Combs.

"I seen Mr. Combs in a towel and some colored socks." Florez said Combs gave him a "devilish stare" and Ventura looked "scared."

"She was pretty much just covered up. I couldn't see her face. She was pretty much in the corner," Florez said. He noticed the flower vase that decorates the hallway was destroyed.

"She was saying that she wanted to get her phone, her bag, she wanted to leave," Florez recalled. At one point, he said, Combs told her "you're not going to leave."

Florez followed the pair back to their room and stood in the doorway. He said he noticed a "male, black wearing dark clothing sitting at the corner of the bed."

Once Ventura left the room, Florez said Combs called to him. "He was pretty much holding a sack of money and he said, 'here take care of this for me, don't tell anyone.'"

He later noticed Ventura had a "purple eye."

Federal prosecutors said Combs is seen on video "brutally beating" Ventura as she tried to escape a "freak off." Defense attorneys conceded what the video depicted "is dehumanizing and violent and terrible" but downplayed it as a fight over a phone.

The defense called Combs a "flawed individual," prone to jealous rages, who even committed domestic assault but said he's no sex trafficker and his unconventional sexual preferences were not part of any RICO conspiracy, as alleged.

Federal prosecutors argued the case is not about a celebrity's private sex life. Instead, they said "the sexual conduct at issue in this case was coercive and criminal."

Cassie Ventura and "Jane" are both "capable, strong" women who chose to remain with Sean Combs, the defense insisted during opening statements.

Ventura was "not coerced to engage in this sex life," and "Jane" was "desperate" to be with Combs, defense attorney Teny Geragos said.

According to Geragos, Ventura attended the funeral of Kim Porter in 2018 when she heard Combs call Porter his soulmate. The defense attorney said it became clear to Cassie then that she was never going to be the love of Combs' life and so she left him with no repercussions.

When Ventura testifies it will be the first time that she and Combs have seen each other since that day in 2018, according to Geragos.

"What he understood was that she was a willing participant in their sex life," Geragos said, and suggested Ventura is now motivated by money.

Geragos said "Jane" and Combs had a "toxic, dysfunctional" relationship but the defense attorney insisted that she, too, was a willing participant in sexual activity.

"Being a willing participant in your own sex life is not sex trafficking," Geragos said.

Geragos said jurors may find videos of the sexual activities difficult to watch "because they were never meant to be seen" and are "intimate."

Federal prosecutors said the videos are evidence of the alleged blackmail that Combs used against women who did not obey him.

The first witnesses at Sean 'Diddy' Combs' sex trafficking trial are set to testify after a hour-long lunch break.

The case kicked off Monday with opening statements from a prosecutor and a defense lawyer.

Among the witnesses expected to testify Monday: Combs' ex-girlfriend Cassie and a security guard at the Los Angeles hotel where Combs was captured on security video violently assaulting Cassie in a hallway in 2016.

Senior Investigative Reporter for ABC News Aaron Katersky describes the atmosphere in court as attorneys presented opening statements in the Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial.

In opening statements, Combs' defense attorney, Teny Geragos, said Combs may come across as mean but reminded jurors that he's "not charged with being mean, he's not charged with being a jerk."

Geragos insisted that the criminal charges Combs faces relate to his private, personal sex life. "The government has no place here," she said.

The defense conceded Combs "has a temper" and "got violent" when they say he drank or used drugs but insisted domestic violence was not part of any RICO conspiracy or was meant to coerce women into sexual acts.

Mike Marza speaks with ABC News' Aaron Katersky about the court case.

The defense said the 2016 hotel security video of Combs and Cassie, in which Combs physically attacks her, shows a fight over a phone. Geragos said what is depicted in the video "is dehumanizing and violent and terrible" but not evidence of sex trafficking.

"It is evidence of domestic violence," Geragos said.

Geragos said Combs led a "swingers' lifestyle" and downplayed "freak offs" as consensual threesomes.

"That may not be what you like to do in your bedroom," Geragos said. "But you are not here to judge him for his sexual preferences."

Prosecutor Emily Johnson urged the jury not to believe how the defense characterized the evidence, which they said shows, among other things, Combs violently forcing Cassie and 'Jane' to participate in freak-offs under the threat of releasing videos of the event. Prosecutors have previously pointed to the 2016 video of Combs kicking and dragging Cassie as evidence of allegedly sex trafficking his then-girlfriend for a "freak off" in which she was forced to engage in sex acts with male prostitutes.