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In this courtroom sketch, Sean "Diddy" Combs reacts aft helium was convicted of prostitution-related offenses but acquitted of enactment trafficking and racketeering charges that could person enactment him down bars for life, Wednesday, July 2, 2025, successful Manhattan national tribunal successful New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)
NEW YORK – In rejecting Sean “Diddy” Combs’ merchandise connected bail, a national justice confronted the hip-hop impresario with a disturbing facet of his transgression lawsuit that his lawyers couldn’t deny: his past of violence.
Combs' defence lawyers claimed helium is simply a changed man. But Judge Arun Subramanian connected Wednesday fto the Bad Boy Records laminitis cognize that his hopes for state soon are slim — adjacent aft the assemblage acquitted him connected racketeering conspiracy and enactment trafficking charges that could person enactment him successful situation for life.
Subramanian's words signaled however helium whitethorn attack sentencing Combs for his convictions connected 2 lesser prostitution-related charges, which each transportation a maximum punishment of 10 years successful prison.
The judge, citing a now-infamous video of Combs beating a erstwhile woman and photographs showing injuries to different ex-girlfriend, made wide that helium plans to clasp Combs accountable for the years of unit and bullying behaviour that were exposed astatine his eight-week trial.
Combs’ punishment is Subramanian’s determination alone, and the justice volition person wide latitude successful determining a sentence. While judges often adhere to the national judiciary’s formulaic guidelines meant to forestall disparity successful sentences for the aforesaid crimes, they are not mandatory.
Combs’ lawyers privation little than the 21 to 27 months successful situation that they judge the sentencing guidelines recommend. Prosecutors contend that the guidelines, erstwhile decently calculated to see Combs’ crimes and convulsive history, telephone for astatine slightest 4 to 5 years successful prison.
After tentatively mounting Combs’ sentencing for October, the justice said helium is unfastened to a defence petition that it hap arsenic soon arsenic possible, with further discussions expected astatine a league Tuesday.
Combs’ convulsive past keeps him locked up for now
Combs, his household and his defence squad were overjoyed by the verdict, immoderate of them tearing up astatine the result. Combs pumped his fist successful solemnisation and mouthed “thank you” to jurors. He hugged his lawyers and, aft the assemblage exited, fell to his knees successful prayer.
But, by the extremity of the day, Combs was deflated — his imagination of going location aft much than 9 months successful jailhouse thwarted by a justice throwing his ain lawyers’ words backmost successful their faces.
“We ain the home violence. We ain it,” Subramanian said, speechmaking from a transcript of Combs lawyer Marc Agnifilo’s closing statement to the assemblage past week. “If helium was charged with home violence, we wouldn’t each beryllium present having a trial, due to the fact that helium would person pled guilty, due to the fact that helium did that.”
The justice noted the assemblage had seen a video of Combs viciously attacking then-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura successful a Los Angeles edifice successful March 2016.
He besides noted that different erstwhile Combs’ woman — a pistillate who testified nether the pseudonym “Jane” — was near with disposable grounds of bruises and injuries aft Combs deed her repeatedly successful June 2024. That was a fewer months aft national agents raided 2 of his homes and “when helium should person known that helium needed to enactment clean.”
The justice said that the beating, which Jane said happened earlier Combs forced her to person a intersexual brushwood with a antheral enactment worker, was portion of the prostitution-related offenses — violations of the national Mann Act — that resulted successful a conviction.
“This highlights a disregard for the regularisation of instrumentality and the propensity for violence,” helium said.
Combs is ‘working connected himself,’ lawyer says
Agnifilo, who had asked the justice to merchandise Combs connected a $1 cardinal bond, insisted to Subramanian that Combs had changed dramatically successful the past year. As helium pleaded with the judge, Combs sat by his broadside and scribbled notes connected tiny pieces of paper, occasionally handing them to the lawyer.
The lawyer said Jane had written a supportive enactment to get Combs into a home unit involution program. At sentencing, helium said, the defence plans to person idiosyncratic from the programme archer the justice however Combs did.
“He is simply a antheral who’s successful the process of moving connected himself,” the lawyer said. “He’s been a exemplary prisoner.”
Agnifilo said Combs had “been fixed his beingness back” by the assemblage and “would beryllium thing abbreviated of a fool” to bash thing to spoil that.
The imaginable of a beingness sentence, the maximum if Combs were convicted of racketeering oregon enactment trafficking, prompted “all sorts of the darkest conversations 1 tin ideate astir what your beingness could person been and what your beingness became,” Agnifilo said.
But Subramanian was unmoved by what Agnifilo called his “heart strings” argument.
“Having conceded the defendant’s propensity for unit successful this way, it is intolerable for the suspect to show by wide and convincing grounds that helium poses nary information to immoderate different idiosyncratic oregon the community,” the justice said.
Prosecutors besides privation unit factored into sentencing
Agnifilo indicated the defence volition reason astatine sentencing that Combs’ convulsive acts are not portion of the charges for which helium was convicted and shouldn’t origin into his punishment.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey made it wide that prosecutors volition reason the opposite.
Combs is “an highly convulsive antheral with an extraordinarily unsafe temper,” Comey told the justice Wednesday. He “has shown nary remorse and nary regret for his unit toward aggregate victims.”
Subramanian noted that Combs volition beryllium credited for the clip helium has already served.
But by rejecting bail, the justice indicated that helium volition apt cull a defence petition for Combs to beryllium freed successful the adjacent year.
Witnesses implore justice to support Combs locked up
Deonte Nash, a former stylist for Combs and Cassie who reluctantly testified during the trial, told the justice successful a missive that bail would “send a unsafe message: that wealthiness and power tin shield idiosyncratic indefinitely from accountability.”
Cassie, done her lawyer, besides encouraged Subramanian to support Combs successful jail.
“Ms. Ventura believes that Mr. Combs is apt to airs a information to the victims who testified successful this case, including herself, arsenic good arsenic to the community,” Cassie’s lawyer, Douglas Wigdor, wrote.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This worldly whitethorn not beryllium published, broadcast, rewritten oregon redistributed without permission.
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