Diddy's lawyers plan to argue "mutual violence." Will that strategy work?

Diddy performs onstage astatine the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards. Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

This week, the national proceedings against Sean "Diddy" Combs began successful New York. Combs is facing charges of enactment trafficking and racketeering, and helium has pleaded not blameworthy to each charges. Combs' defence attorney, Marc Agnifilo, is utilizing a acquainted maneuver to picture the hip-hop mogul's narration with 1 of his accusers, his erstwhile longtime girlfriend, vocalist Casandra "Cassie" Ventura.

"There was hitting connected some sides," Agnifilo said successful court. "We're going to instrumentality the presumption that determination was communal unit successful the relationship."

This concept, often referred to arsenic "mutual violence" oregon "mutual abuse," suggests that some parties successful an maltreatment lawsuit engaged successful abusive behavior. This thought was besides brought up successful the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard trial.

But Loyola Marymount University instrumentality prof Laurie Levenson said "mutual abuse" is not a ineligible defence of abuse.

"You won't find successful the instrumentality books a communal maltreatment defense. What you'll spot are defendants arguing, 'Well, I truly thought that the unfortunate was consenting due to the fact that they were doing it to me, and truthful I could bash it to them,' " she said.

"[But] it is not good successful the transgression instrumentality satellite to maltreatment idiosyncratic and past say, 'Well, they're astatine fault, too.' "

Bev Gooden, writer of Surviving: Why We Stay and How We Leave Abusive Relationships, believes the thought of "mutual abuse" goes against the precise explanation of maltreatment arsenic well.

"Abuse is astir a signifier of behaviour designed to support power implicit different person," she said. "Abuse is astir power, it's astir control, manipulation, not conscionable carnal unit oregon aggression. And truthful adjacent if some radical prosecute successful harmful behaviors, 1 is typically the abuser controlling the situation."

Gooden added that it's captious to recognize the powerfulness dynamics astatine play to beryllium capable to differentiate betwixt maltreatment and warring back, adjacent if they look similar.

She said, "I find that what often gets labeled arsenic communal maltreatment is much accurately a trauma response… The happening that I ever accidental is that trauma responses tin origin harm. And I deliberation that's what the nationalist is seeing erstwhile they spot idiosyncratic lashing backmost oregon lashing retired astatine the abusive spouse - [but] that's not the aforesaid happening arsenic being abusive. Harm is not abuse. Conflict is not abuse. Abuse is astir powerfulness and control. It is simply a pattern, not conscionable messy behaviour connected some sides."

But wherefore would Combs' defence concede that his narration with Ventura was convulsive astatine all? Levenson thinks that the defence is trying to reframe this "mutual violence" arsenic a consensual portion of the intersexual narration – a strategy she saw successful the lawsuit of erstwhile Dodger's subordinate Trevor Bauer.

"Trevor Bauer, backmost successful 2021, helium was accused of abusing [someone] with assorted harmful and physically achy intersexual activities. And his defense was, 'Well, that's conscionable the mode we person sex,' " she said. "And successful fact, that lawsuit ended up being dropped."

Gooden said kink is not abuse. Practitioners are adamant that enthusiastic consent is cardinal to kink.

"Now [Bauer's case] wasn't arsenic utmost arsenic what's being alleged present against Combs," Levenson added, "but I deliberation the defence is trying to reframe this as, 'Gee, that's conscionable however the satellite of stone 'n' rotation works, and these radical wanted to beryllium portion of it, truthful they're not genuinely victims.' "

Gooden added that this communicative mightiness beryllium particularly palatable for the public, who mightiness beryllium fans oregon admirers of a personage similar Sean Combs.

"We often person a hard clip believing that idiosyncratic we clasp successful precocious esteem could beryllium abusive, that the aforesaid hands that make creation tin besides make terror," she said. "That's truly hard to beryllium with, and I empathize with radical who are moving done that, 'cause I've been there. I deliberation a healthier mode to woody with that wounded and disorder is to judge that idiosyncratic tin beryllium bully to you and inactive wounded idiosyncratic else."