Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
The legal team of Shawn “Diddy” Combs has filed a lengthy appeal, arguing that the music emperor’s conviction and sentence on prostitution-related charges was unjust.
Combs, 56, was pleaded guilty on two counts of prostitution-related charges and sentenced to 50 months in prison Following an eight-week trial in New York earlier this year. Combs – now serving his sentence in a low-security New Jersey prison – was acquitted of the more serious sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges.
The court heard several weeks of testimony from Combs’ ex-girlfriends and former associates, who detailed the alleged abuse. Several witnesses also described Combs’ drug-fueled sex marathons, referred to as “freak-offs” or “hotel nights.”
Combs’ lawyers have said that the sexual encounter described in the case was consensual.
Now, Combs’ lawyers argue that the court was “unjust” and relied too heavily on “acquitted conduct” when sentencing him. His legal team accused Judge Arun Subramaniam of acting as a “thirteenth juror” when he sentenced Combs to more than four years in prison.
“He is in prison today, serving a 50-month sentence, because the district judge served as the thirteenth juror. The judge disregarded the jury’s verdict and found that Combs ‘coerced,’ ‘exploited,’ forced his girlfriends to have sex and led a criminal conspiracy,” his lawyers wrote in an 84-page document filed Tuesday.
Combs’ legal team also noted that she “was convicted of two lesser counts – prostitution offenses that did not require force, fraud or coercion.”
“Defendants typically receive sentences of less than 15 months for these crimes – even when coercion is involved, which the jury did not find here,” the filing reads.
Subramaniam cited the alleged abuse described by witnesses before sentencing Combs to more than four years in prison.
“A history of good deeds cannot wash away the record in this case. You abused these women. You used that abuse to fuel your whims, whims, and hotel nights,” Subramanian said during his sentencing in October.
He said, “The evidence of abuse is overwhelming. Drugs have exacerbated your erratic and violent behavior over the years. However, the court will have to consider your entire history here.”
In Tuesday’s filing, Combs’ team argued that her conviction should be overturned because she was not involved in prostitution. His lawyers wrote, “Properly understood, paying for a voyeuristic experience – of which Combs was convicted – is not engaging in ‘prostitution’.”
He also argues that Combs’s “eccentric rest and hotel nights” were protected by the First Amendment.
His lawyers wrote, “Second, the freak-offs and hotel nights were highly choreographed sexual performances using costumes, role plays, and stage lighting, which were filmed so that Combs and his girlfriends could watch this amateur pornography.”
He said, “The production of pornography and this type of viewing is protected by the First Amendment and thus cannot be constitutionally prosecuted.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York declined to comment on the filing. Independent The US District Court for the Southern District of New York has been contacted for comment.