Sean “Diddy” Combs’s attorneys have known as for the music mogul to be given not more than 14 months in jail when he’s sentenced subsequent month – that means he would stroll free virtually instantly.
In a brand new written authorized submission, the defence group additionally detailed “inhumane” situations on the Metropolitan Detention Heart in Brooklyn, New York – saying meals typically accommodates maggots, that the rapper is routinely subjected to violence, and that he has “not breathed fresh air in nearly 13 months”.
Combs, 55, was discovered responsible of two prostitution-related prices following his high-profile trial in the summertime, however cleared of the extra severe prices of sex-trafficking and racketeering conspiracy.
He has already served a 12 months in custody in New York following his arrest in September 2024, and is because of be sentenced on 3 October.
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How the Diddy trial unfolded
His defence attorneys have now made their arguments for sentencing in a written submission to Choose Arun Subramanian, who heard the trial.
“In the past two years, Mr Combs’s career and reputation have been destroyed,” his attorneys mentioned within the doc. “He has served over a year in one of the most notorious jails in America – yet has made the most of that punishment.”
They mentioned Combs has been “adequately punished” already, having been jailed in “terrible conditions”. He has additionally turn into sober “for the first time in 25 years” and had an “incident-free record”, they added, and helped different inmates by creating an academic programme on enterprise administration and entrepreneurship.
It’s now time for the rapper “to go home to his family, so he can continue his treatment and try to make the most of the next chapter of his extraordinary life”, the defence group mentioned.
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Combs fell to his knees when the jury’s verdicts had been delivered. Pic: Reuters/Jane Rosenberg
‘Maggots and restricted clear water’
The defence’s submission gives new details about what life behind bars has been like for Combs, a Grammy-winning artist and Unhealthy Boy Information founder who was one of the crucial influential hip-hop producers of the Nineties and 2000s, and for his household and former associates.
The rapper needed to let greater than 100 staff go from his companies following his arrest, it mentioned, and lots of have been unable to search out work on account of their earlier affiliation with him.
Combs’s seven youngsters have additionally confronted “devastating consequences”, in keeping with the authorized submitting, together with misplaced enterprise alternatives in performing, tv, vogue and music.
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The rapper’s mom Janice Combs supported him throughout the trial. Pic: Reuters
The rapper and his household had been additionally set to star in a Hulu present about their lives, however the present was cancelled as soon as the allegations in opposition to him grew to become public.
Combs was faraway from the boards at three constitution colleges he created in Harlem, the Bronx and Connecticut and was additionally stripped of an honorary doctorate diploma from Howard College, which plans to return his prior donations, it mentioned.
The defence’s doc additionally goes into element in regards to the alleged situations on the detention centre the place Combs is being held.
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Choose Arun Subramanian heard the trial and can sentence Combs. Pic: Reuters/Jane Rosenberg
“Mr Combs is routinely subject to violence – both directed at him and at others,” they mentioned. On 12 September, they mentioned members of the defence counsel had been in the course of a name with the rapper that needed to be ended instantly “because of a stabbing that locked the facility down for the next several days”.
Residing situations are “inhumane”, they argued, and Combs has been “under constant suicide watch”, that means each two hours he “must present his identification card to the guards to show he is alive and well. While he is sleeping, he is awoken by an officer to ensure he is well and subjected to bright lights illuminated 24 hours per day”.
He additionally has restricted entry to wash water, they mentioned, and infrequently “heats his water to have clean water to drink without getting sick”.
Describing the dorm-style room he sleeps in, they mentioned he’s inside “two feet from other inmates with the bathroom in the same room, with no door”.
The rapper “has not breathed fresh air in nearly 13 months, or felt sunlight on his skin”, the doc added, whereas meals “on any given day can contain maggots”.
The decide has already rejected a proposed $50m bail bundle for Combs.
Prosecutors, who will even submit their suggestions for sentencing forward of the listening to, have already mentioned they are going to name for him to stay in jail for a considerable interval.
Combs was discovered responsible of two counts of transportation for engagement in prostitution – for flying girlfriends and male intercourse employees across the US and overseas for sexual encounters known as “freak offs”. Every cost carries a most penalty of 10 years in jail.
