Sean Combs sentenced to over four years in prison for prostitution-related charges : NPR
Sean Combs (right) watches his children present impact declarations during his sentence of conviction in New York. Combs was sentenced to 50 months in prison.
Jane Rosenberg / Reuters
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Jane Rosenberg / Reuters
On Friday, Sean Combs was sentenced by a federal judge to 50 months in prison. The 55 -year -old music magnate was sentenced in July for two transporter for prostitution, but acquitted for more serious accusations of sex trafficking and racket conspiracy.
After a day hearing that led to Combres himself addressing the judge, speaking for the first time during the trial, judge Arun Subramanian said that an important sentence was required to “send a message to the attackers and victims that exploitation and violence against women come up against real responsibility”.
Subramanian made his decision after hearing the arguments of the federal prosecutors, lawyers for the defense of Combs and Cambbs himself. His defense lawyers had argued that their client should not receive more than 14 months behind bars. Over time already served, it would mean that it would be released by the end of the year. The federal prosecutors, on the other hand, asked the sentence to subramanian to arise at no less than 11 years and three months in prison.
Combs has been held in a Brooklyn prison since its arrest last September. The hearing of determination of the penalty was the culmination of an eight -week trial defined by emotionally testimonies, celebrity appearances and a buzzing courthouse filled with hordes of supporters of Combs, influencers and social media journalists. Federal prosecutors spent six weeks presenting an elaborate and sometimes winding case that accused the combination of a criminal organization that has allowed and hidden sexual crimes for decades. Their two main witnesses, the singer Cassie Ventura and a woman who testified using the pseudonym “Jane”, told court that Combres attracted them to romantic relationships and then forced them several times to sexual marathons fueled by drugs with male escorts.
The Combs’ defense team spent a large part of the trial to discredit the testimony of women by presenting evidence of text messaging in which Ventura and Jane each seemed to accept the meetings and help to plan them. After the accusation presented more than two dozen witnesses – including former combat employees, the federal agents and the friends of the alleged victims – the defense called none, and posed its file in less than 30 minutes. In the end, a jury has acquitted sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy, but found it guilty of transporting Jane and Ventura through the state to engage in commercial sexual relations.
Despite Combres’ acquittal on the most serious accusations, no one – not even his own lawyers – denied having caused damage. A key evidence in the case was a 2016 surveillance video of Combs beating Ventura in a hotel corridor. Throughout the trial, Combs’ defense lawyers conceded that their client had history of domestic violence, but argued that the government did not charge it for these crimes.
During the hearing on Friday, prosecutors underlined the violent behavior of Combs as a justification for a longer sentence.
