A SENTENCING date for Sean “Diddy” Combs has been set after the music mogul was convicted of two prostitution-related charges at his high-profile trial.
Combs, who was acquitted of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges, will be sentenced on October 3.
Combs faces a maximum 20-year prison sentence – 10 years for each count of transportation to engage in prostitution.
However, federal prosecutors have said they would seek a 5 to 3-year sentence.
The time Combs has already served in jail, which will be over a year by the time he’s sentenced, would be credited to the ultimate sentence the judge imposes.
Tuesday’s pre-sentencing hearing lasted seconds after Combs’ defense team initially sought to expedite his sentencing to September 22 in their initial letter to Judge Arun Subramanian.
However, minutes before the hearing was scheduled to start Marc Agnifilo filed a second letter to the judge saying the defense and prosecution had agreed to a October 3 date – the initial date set by Judge Subramanian.
As the 2 pm pre-sentencing hearing commenced, a courtroom deputy acknowledged Agnifilo’s letter and said the judge would rule on the motion in writing before adjourning the court.
It’s unclear why the defense abandoned its efforts to expedite Combs’ sentencing.
Combs will remain housed in the notorious Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn while he awaits sentencing.
SHOCKING VERDICT
A jury acquitted Combs of the most serious charges he faced – racketeering conspiracy and two counts of sex trafficking in regards to Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura and “Jane,” a pseudonym used for one of Combs’ ex-girlfriends.
The music executive fell to his knees in prayer after the jury foreperson read the stunning verdict to the courtroom on July 2.
Combs’ defense team delivered a post-verdict victory speech to reporters outside the US District Courthouse, calling the outcome a “great victory for the jury system.”
Agnifilo said the 12-person jury “got the situation right – or certainly, right enough.”
“We are not nearly done fighting. We’re not going to stop until he walks out of prison a free man to his family,” he added.
Teny Geragos, another of Combs attorneys, defended the mogul saying, “Sean Combs has not sexually assaulted anybody. I’ve been saying that for months. The media got it wrong.”
CLOSING ARGUMENTS
In their blistering closing arguments, prosecutors described Combs as the “leader of a criminal enterprise” who used his expansive “wealth, power, violence, and fear to get what he wanted.”
“He thought that his fame, wealth and power put him above the law,” Assistant US Attorney Christy Slavik said, adding, “It was his kingdom. Everyone was there to serve him.”
The core evidence of the prosecution’s case was the disturbing and graphic nature of the drug-fueled “freak-offs” that at times Combs allegedly coerced his ex-girlfriends to participate in with male escorts.
Slavik described to jurors how Combs forced his former lovers Ventura and “Jane” into participating in the punishing sex marathons and with the help of an inner circle of “loyal lieutenants” covered up the alleged crimes.
Ventura and Jane were sometimes required to perform the lewd acts, which were also called “hotel nights and wild king nights,” while they were hurting from urinary tract infections (UTIs), according to prosecutors.
On the other hand, Combs’ defense team slammed the prosecution’s case as an attack on “your bedroom” and one’s sex life.
Agnifilo summarized the seven-week trial as a “tale of two trials,” arguing one side is the one told by the evidence of the case, by witnesses, videos, and text messages, and the other was a “badly, badly, exaggerated” story told by prosecutors.
The defense attorney argued the sexual encounters involving Combs, Ventura, “Jane,” and male escorts were consensual, and called the “freak-offs,” which were sometimes video recorded, “homemade porn.”
Source: https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/14658155/sean-diddy-combs-sentencing-date/
