New York
AP
—
Prosecutors urged a New York federal decide Tuesday to ship Sean “Diddy” Combs to prison for over 11 years following his conviction on prostitution-related charges, citing one of his accusers who mentioned she lives in worry of the music mogul’s launch from detention.
“His crimes of conviction are serious and have warranted sentences over ten years in multiple cases for defendants who, like Sean Combs, engaged in violence and put others in fear,” they wrote in a presentence submission requesting at the least 11 years and three months in prison.
They filed their sentencing suggestion shortly after midnight, together with letters from some of his accusers describing how his violence and calls for had impacted their lives.
They referred to as Combs “unrepentant” and mentioned Combs had conceded his acts of violence and abuse all through his trial however “incredibly, … he now argues that his victims should shoulder the blame.”
Combs, 55, has remained jailed since his July conviction on prices associated to arranging male intercourse employees to journey to motels or residences the place he directed them to have intercourse along with his girlfriends.
The elaborate dayslong, drug-fueled sexual occasions have been usually filmed by Combs. Defense attorneys have requested that he be sentenced to not more than 14 months in prison. Sentencing is about for Friday.
In July, Combs was convicted of two prices for violating the Mann Act, which outlaws interstate commerce associated to prostitution, for arranging the paid sexual encounters between his girlfriends and male intercourse employees. Each rely carries a most penalty of 10 years in prison.
The identical jury acquitted the Bad Boy Records founder of racketeering conspiracy and intercourse trafficking prices that might have resulted in a life sentence.
Last week, the protection submitted its presentence arguments, saying Combs has suffered sufficient throughout his almost 13 months behind bars that he ought to be freed quickly.
They wrote that he turned a modified man in a Brooklyn federal lockup, the place he has been below fixed suicide watch and discovered to react calmly to threats relatively than violently, even when a fellow inmate confronted him with a shiv.
They mentioned Combs has realized that his overuse of medication, together with some prescribed by docs, had contributed to violent acts he participated in.
Prosecutors mentioned Combs was now attempting to forged himself as a sufferer.
“He is not the victim,” they wrote. “The Court should focus on the very real effects that the defendant’s conduct had on the lives of the actual victims, his victims.”
At trial, two of Combs’ former girlfriends testified that they felt pressured to take part in the drug-fueled intercourse marathons with male intercourse employees as Combs watched and generally filmed.
R&B singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura described being overwhelmed by Combs when she displeased him throughout their decadelong relationship. Another ex-girlfriend, testifying below the pseudonym “Jane,” mentioned she felt pressured to carry out sexually with male intercourse employees. She testified that an enraged Combs as soon as put her in a chokehold and punched her in the face.
In a letter accompanying the prosecutors’ submission, Cassie wrote that she testified whereas 9 months pregnant throughout Combs’ trial “in front of a packed courtroom about the most traumatic and horrifying chapter in my life. I testified that from age nineteen, Sean Combs used violence, threats, substances, and control over my career to trap me in over a decade of abuse.”
Cassie wrote that Combs managed her like a puppet.
“These events were degrading and disgusting, leaving me with infections, illnesses, and days of physical and emotional exhaustion before he demanded it all again. Sex acts became my full-time job, used as the only way to stay in his good graces,” she mentioned.
Cassie mentioned she nonetheless has nightmares and flashbacks on an on a regular basis foundation and requires psychological care to manage.
“My worries that Sean Combs or his associates will come after me and my family is my reality. I have in fact moved my family out of the New York area and am keeping as private and quiet as I possibly can because I am so scared that if he walks free, his first actions will be swift retribution towards me and others who spoke up about his abuse at trial,” Cassie mentioned.
The AP doesn’t sometimes title individuals who say they’ve been sexually abused until they arrive ahead publicly, as Cassie has.
In an indictment, prosecutors asserted that Combs used his fame, wealth and violence to power and manipulate Cassie and Jane, now-ex-girlfriends, into the sexual performances he referred to as “freak-offs” or “hotel nights.”
After Combs was convicted, Judge Arun Subramanian instantly refused a protection request to grant him bail.
He denied it once more in August as he rejected Combs’ $50 million bail proposal, saying the hip hop impresario hadn’t confirmed that he didn’t pose a flight threat or hazard, nor proven an “exceptional circumstance” after a conviction that in any other case requires detention.