NEW YORK (AP) — In rejecting Sean “Diddy” Combs’ launch on bail, a federal decide confronted the hip-hop impresario with a disturbing side of his legal case that his attorneys couldn’t deny: his historical past of violence.
Combs’ protection attorneys claimed he’s a modified man. However Choose Arun Subramanian on Wednesday let the Unhealthy Boy Information founder know that his hopes for freedom quickly are slim — even after the jury acquitted him on racketeering conspiracy and intercourse trafficking expenses that would have put him in jail for all times.
Subramanian’s phrases signaled how he could strategy sentencing Combs for his convictions on two lesser prostitution-related expenses, which every carry a most punishment of 10 years in jail.
The decide, citing a now-infamous video of Combs beating a former girlfriend and pictures exhibiting accidents to a different ex-girlfriend, made clear that he plans to carry Combs accountable for the years of violence and bullying conduct that have been uncovered at his eight-week trial.
Combs’ punishment is Subramanian’s resolution alone, and the decide can have extensive latitude in figuring out a sentence. Whereas judges usually adhere to the federal judiciary’s formulaic tips meant to forestall disparity in sentences for a similar crimes, they don’t seem to be obligatory.
Combs’ attorneys need lower than the 21 to 27 months in jail that they imagine the sentencing tips advocate. Prosecutors contend that the rules, when correctly calculated to incorporate Combs’ crimes and violent historical past, name for no less than 4 to 5 years in jail.
After tentatively setting Combs’ sentencing for October, the decide stated he’s open to a protection request that it occur as quickly as potential, with additional discussions anticipated at a convention Tuesday.
Combs’ violent previous retains him locked up for now
Combs, his household and his protection crew have been overjoyed by the decision, a few of them tearing up on the end result. Combs pumped his fist in celebration and mouthed “thanks” to jurors. He hugged his attorneys and, after the jury exited, fell to his knees in prayer.
However, by the top of the day, Combs was deflated — his dream of going dwelling after greater than 9 months in jail thwarted by a decide throwing his personal attorneys’ phrases again of their faces.
“We personal the home violence. We personal it,” Subramanian stated, studying from a transcript of Combs lawyer Marc Agnifilo’s closing argument to the jury final week. “If he was charged with home violence, we wouldn’t all be right here having a trial, as a result of he would have pled responsible, as a result of he did that.”
The decide famous the jury had seen a video of Combs viciously attacking then-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura in a Los Angeles resort in March 2016.
He additionally famous that one other former Combs’ girlfriend — a girl who testified below the pseudonym “Jane” — was left with seen proof of bruises and accidents after Combs hit her repeatedly in June 2024. That was a couple of months after federal brokers raided two of his houses and “when he ought to have identified that he wanted to remain clear.”
The decide stated that the beating, which Jane stated occurred earlier than Combs pressured her to have a sexual encounter with a male intercourse employee, was a part of the prostitution-related offenses — violations of the federal Mann Act — that resulted in a conviction.
“This highlights a disregard for the rule of regulation and the propensity for violence,” he stated.
Combs is ‘engaged on himself,’ lawyer says
Agnifilo, who had requested the decide to launch Combs on a $1 million bond, insisted to Subramanian that Combs had modified dramatically within the final 12 months. As he pleaded with the decide, Combs sat by his facet and scribbled notes on small items of paper, often handing them to the lawyer.
The lawyer stated Jane had written a supportive be aware to get Combs right into a home violence intervention program. At sentencing, he stated, the protection plans to have somebody from this system inform the decide how Combs did.
“He’s a person who’s within the strategy of engaged on himself,” the lawyer stated. “He’s been a mannequin prisoner.”
Agnifilo stated Combs had “been given his life again” by the jury and “could be nothing in need of a idiot” to do something to spoil that.
The prospect of a life sentence, the utmost if Combs have been convicted of racketeering or intercourse trafficking, prompted “all types of the darkest conversations one can think about about what your life may have been and what your life turned,” Agnifilo stated.
However Subramanian was unmoved by what Agnifilo referred to as his “coronary heart strings” argument.
“Having conceded the defendant’s propensity for violence on this approach, it’s not possible for the defendant to reveal by clear and convincing proof that he poses no hazard to another individual or the neighborhood,” the decide stated.
Prosecutors additionally need violence factored into sentencing
Agnifilo indicated the protection will argue at sentencing that Combs’ violent acts will not be a part of the fees for which he was convicted and shouldn’t issue into his punishment.
Assistant U.S. Lawyer Maurene Comey made it clear that prosecutors will argue the other.
Combs is “a particularly violent man with a very harmful mood,” Comey instructed the decide Wednesday. He “has proven no regret and no remorse for his violence towards a number of victims.”
Subramanian famous that Combs will likely be credited for the time he has already served.
However by rejecting bail, the decide indicated that he’ll probably reject a protection request for Combs to be freed within the subsequent 12 months.
Witnesses implore decide to maintain Combs locked up
Deonte Nash, a former stylist for Combs and Cassie who reluctantly testified in the course of the trial, instructed the decide in a letter that bail would “ship a harmful message: that wealth and affect can protect somebody indefinitely from accountability.”
Cassie, by her lawyer, additionally inspired Subramanian to maintain Combs in jail.
“Ms. Ventura believes that Mr. Combs is more likely to pose a hazard to the victims who testified on this case, together with herself, in addition to to the neighborhood,” Cassie’s lawyer, Douglas Wigdor, wrote.
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