NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs is scheduled to be sentenced in his federal criminal case on Oct. 3, as determined by a judge on Tuesday. This decision came after probation officials declined the defense and prosecution’s proposal to expedite the sentencing by roughly two weeks.
Currently incarcerated following last week’s mixed verdict, Combs briefly communicated with his attorney Marc Agnifilo during a two-minute virtual hearing regarding the schedule. He requested at one point for the camera to be turned on so they could converse face-to-face.
The hip-hop mogul’s legal team had been pressing Judge Arun Subramanian for a prompt sentencing after jurors acquitted him of racketeering and sex trafficking but found him guilty on two charges related to prostitution.
Combs, 55, faces up to a decade in prison for each of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution for flying people around the country, including his girlfriends and male sex workers, for sexual encounters. A conviction on racketeering conspiracy or sex trafficking could have put him in prison for life.
Prior to Tuesday’s hearing, Combs’ lawyers and prosecutors filed a joint letter proposing a Sept. 22 sentencing date, subject to the consent of the U.S. Probation Office. A short time later, they filed a second letter stating that all parties — including the probation office — were on board with the Oct. 3 date Subramanian originally proposed.
Combs got a standing ovation from fellow inmates when he returned to jail after the verdict last week, Agnifilo said. The Bad Boy Records founder will remain at the federal lockup in Brooklyn where he’s been held since his arrest last September after Subramanian last week rejected his request for bail.
The judge, citing a now-infamous video of Combs beating a former girlfriend and photographs showing injuries to another ex-girlfriend, made clear that he plans to hold Combs accountable for the years of violence and bullying behavior that were exposed at his eight-week trial.
Combs’ lawyers want less than the 21 to 27 months in prison that they believe the sentencing guidelines recommend. Prosecutors contend that the guidelines, when properly calculated to include Combs’ crimes and violent history, call for at least four to five years in prison.
Combs’ punishment is Subramanian’s decision alone, and the judge will have wide latitude in determining a sentence. While judges often adhere to the federal judiciary’s formulaic guidelines meant to prevent disparity in sentences for the same crimes, they are not mandatory.
As part of the sentencing process, Combs must give an interview to probation officers for a pre-sentence investigation report that will aid the judge in determining the proper punishment.
