Sean “Diddy” Combs faces sentencing Friday in a sordid felony case that would hold him locked up for years. A jury discovered the hip-hop mogul responsible in July of flying individuals across the nation for sexual encounters, together with his girlfriends and male intercourse staff, in violation of the federal Mann Act. He was acquitted of extra critical fees of racketeering conspiracy and intercourse trafficking that would have carried a life sentence.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs sentencing underway
Prosecutors need greater than 11 years behind bars for Combs, 55, who was convicted on two counts of transportation to have interaction in prostitution. His legal professionals say the punishment is “wildly out of proportion” and need him freed now.
U.S. District Decide Arun Subramanian, who will resolve the sentence, has twice denied bail and signaled Combs is unlikely to be free of federal custody quickly. On Friday, the decide stated that whereas Combs was acquitted of sure fees, the decision doesn’t absolve him of underlying conduct, similar to violence and coercion.
Prosecutors stated the main target of Friday’s sentencing was accountability for Combs and justice for the general public.
“It’s a case a few man who did horrible issues to actual individuals to fulfill his personal sexual gratification,” Prosecutor Christy Slavik stated. “He didn’t want the cash. His forex was management.”
Prosecutors additionally blasted Combs for, in line with them, having booked a talking gig in Miami subsequent week — apparently assuming he’d be free to do it. “That’s the top of hubris,” Slavik stated.
Because the listening to started, prosecutors stated the one Combs accuser scheduled to talk in individual backed out after protection objections.
The girl, a former private assistant who testified underneath the pseudonym “Mia,” accused Combs of raping her in 2010 and has urged the decide to impose a sentence reflecting “the continuing hazard my abuser poses to me, and to others.”
His legal professionals say Combs will handle the courtroom, they usually plan to point out an 11-minute video highlighting his household life, profession and philanthropy. The decide confirmed Combs’ youngsters and a minister will even be allowed to talk.
Combs entered the packed courtroom by means of a aspect door escorted by deputy U.S. marshals and carrying a light-colored sweater, button-down shirt and darkish pants. He hugged his legal professionals and greeted his household and supporters.
Outdoors the Manhattan courthouse, photographers swarmed as legal professionals and relations arrived, echoing scenes from Combs’ practically two-month trial, which featured testimony from girls who described being overwhelmed, threatened, sexually assaulted and blackmailed by Combs.
Former girlfriend and R&B singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura instructed jurors he ordered her to have “disgusting” intercourse with strangers a whole lot of occasions throughout their decade-long relationship. The jury was repeatedly proven video of Combs dragging and beating her in a Los Angeles resort hallway after one such multiday “freak-off.”
A lady who testified underneath the pseudonym “Jane” stated she was subjected to violence and felt obligated to carry out sexually with male intercourse staff at drug-fueled “resort nights” whereas Combs watched and typically filmed.
To assist their racketeering case, prosecutors additionally introduced on witnesses who testified about different violent acts. One in every of Cassie’s pals stated Combs dangled her from a seventeenth flooring balcony. The rapper Child Cudi testified Combs broke into his house after studying he was relationship Cassie.
Though jurors acquitted Combs of racketeering, Subramanian can nonetheless contemplate that testimony for sentencing. He’s additionally weighing letters by Combs and a few of his accusers.
In his letter Thursday, Combs instructed the decide, “The outdated me died in jail and a brand new model of me was reborn,” promising he would by no means commit one other crime.
Cassie, in her personal letter, described him as an abuser who “will at all times be the identical merciless, power-hungry, manipulative man that he’s.”
Combs’ legal professionals say the sexual encounters had been consensual and that jail has spurred his sobriety and regret. They contend he has already been punished sufficient. At a listening to final week, Combs instructed his mom and kids that he’s “getting nearer to going house.”
(Through inputs from AP)