New York (AFP) – Prosecutors urged a judge to put music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs behind bars for more than a decade while his children pleaded for a lesser sentence at a court hearing Friday to decide his punishment for prostitution-related crimes.
“This is not a person who has accepted responsibility,” prosecutor Christy Slavik told the sentencing hearing in a New York federal court. “His remorse was qualified. It’s as though he thinks the law doesn’t apply to him,” Slavik said in arguing for an 11-year prison sentence. “His respect for the law is just lip service.” Slavik said Combs had booked speaking engagements in Miami next week in anticipation of a light sentence, which she called “the height of hubris.”
Nicole Westmoreland, a lawyer for the 55-year-old hip-hop innovator, asked the judge for a 14-month sentence, which would effectively be time served since Combs has been incarcerated in Brooklyn for more than a year. Through tears and sniffles, Westmoreland called Combs an “inspiration” to the Black community and a social justice crusader. “No, Combs is not larger than life,” she said. “He’s just a human being. He’s made mistakes.” But Westmoreland said he is remorseful and “it’s of no benefit to anyone to warehouse him in a prison.”
Combs’s six adult children each delivered an emotional plea on their father’s behalf, with the eldest Quincy Brown calling him “a changed man.” “Please, please give our family the chance to heal together,” said one of his daughters, D’Lila Combs. “Not as headlines but as human beings.” Judge Arun Subramanian for his part said sentencing guidelines suggested a prison term of between six and seven years although he has the latitude to impose more or less. The judge also noted an apparent lack of remorse, saying Combs has “challenged his factual guilt full-throatedly.”
Combs was acquitted by a jury in July of the most serious charges against him — sex trafficking and racketeering — but convicted of two counts of transporting people across state lines for prostitution.
– ‘Lost my way’ –
Combs submitted a letter to the judge on Thursday pleading for mercy. He is also expected to address the court before the judge hands down his sentence. In his plea to the judge, Combs apologized for his conduct and vowed he “will never commit a crime again.” “I lost my way,” he wrote. “I got lost in my journey. Lost in the drugs and the excess.” He said his time in prison has left him “reborn.” “I have been humbled and broken to my core,” Combs wrote.
Combs’s former girlfriend Casandra Ventura asked the judge in a letter to consider “the many lives that Sean Combs has upended with his abuse and control.” Ventura, the 39-year-old singer known as Cassie, testified for days while heavily pregnant. She described in wrenching detail physical, emotional and sexual abuse she suffered while in a more than decade-long relationship with Combs.
Ventura and another woman, identified as Jane, said they were coerced into performing so-called “freak offs”: sexual marathons with hired men that Combs directed and sometimes filmed. “The entire courtroom watched actual footage of Combs kicking and beating me as I tried to run away from a freak off in 2016,” Ventura wrote. “People watched this footage dozens of times, seeing my body thrown to the ground, my hands over my head, curled into a fetal position to shield me from the worst blows,” she said, noting she has nightmares and flashbacks “on a regular, everyday basis.” Ventura said she and her family had left the New York area for fear of “retribution” from Combs if he is released.
The defense didn’t deny Combs’s sexual activity but insisted it was consensual. They also didn’t deny Combs’s years of violence against romantic partners as well as employees — but they said it didn’t meet the legal threshold for the grave charges he faced. Jurors took their side.
© 2024 AFP
