Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs acquitted of most serious charges, convicted of prostitution-related offenses
NEW YORK AP Sean Diddy Combs was convicted of prostitution-related offenses but acquitted Wednesday of sex trafficking and racketeering charges that could have put one of hip-hop s majority celebrated figures behind bars for life The mixed product came on the third day of deliberations It could still send Combs to prison for as long as a decade and is likely to end his career as a hitmaking music executive fashion entrepreneur brand ambassador and reality TV star After hearing the verdict Combs held his hands up in a prayer motion looking at jury and hugged defense lawyer Teny Geragos Combs relatives and supporters in the audience could barely contain their relief despite the judge s admonition to avoid outbursts When the first not guilty was read aloud someone shouted Yeah Combs later continued to pump his right fist subtly seemingly satisfied that he was acquitted on the most of serious charges Combs was convicted of flying people around the country including his girlfriends and paid male sex workers to engage in sexual encounters a felony violation of the federal Mann Act But the jury of eight men and four women acquitted Combs of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges related to statements that he used his money power and frightening physical force to manipulate his girlfriends into hundreds of drug-fueled sex marathons with the men Combs defense club argued that the women were willing participants and that none of his violence justified the severity of the charges U S District Judge Arun Subramanian was weighing whether to free Combs on bail in the wake of the verdict The judge adjourned the court while he considers the matter Combs appeared overwhelmed as court adjourned for at least a limited hours He wiped his face turning and kneeling at his chair his head bowed in prayer In the audience his relatives stood and applauded as he faced them I ll be home soon he mentioned and I love you baby I love you Mom he added His relatives applauded him and his lawyers as he was led out of court Combs has been behind bars since his arrest in September His lawyers argued that the acquittal on the largest part serious counts changed the legal landscape enough that he should get bail Verdict follows weeks of harrowing testimony Jurors deliberated for about hours over three days before announcing their verdict It came after they noted late Tuesday that they had decided on four counts but were stuck on the racketeering one At that point the judge stated them to keep deliberating and keep the partial verdict under wraps Combs did not testify at his trial which featured onlookers as well as videos of the rapper attacking his former girlfriend the R B singer Cassie Cassie testified for four days about her turbulent -year relationship with Combs which began after she signed with his Bad Boy record label Cassie explained Combs became obsessed with voyeuristic encounters arranged with the help of his staff that involved sex workers and copious amounts of baby oil During the sex events called freak-offs or hotel nights Combs would order Cassie to do things with other men that she located humiliating she testified When things didn t go Combs way he would beat her she noted I m not a rag doll I m somebody s child Cassie notified Combs after he dragged her down a hotel hallway in Another ex-girlfriend testifying under the pseudonym Jane notified the jury she repeatedly explained Combs she didn t want to have sex with the men hired for their trysts I m not an animal I need a break she recounted him Nevertheless she declared she felt obligated to comply with his demands in part because he paid her rent Defense calls development an invasion of privacy The trial s greater part famous witness rapper Kid Cudi disclosed Combs broke into his home in late after learning he and Cassie were dating After his car was firebombed a minimal weeks later Cudi whose real name is Scott Mescudi announced he knew Combs had something to do with it Combs denied it Combs defense unit acknowledged that he could be violent but argued that prosecutors were intruding in Combs personal life In his closing remarks to the jury defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo commented it wasn t illegal for Combs to make homemade porn with his girlfriends They go into the man s bedroom They go into the man s preponderance private life Where is the crime scene Agnifilo reported While Jane described violence like a night when Combs choked her punched her face leaving welts and a black eye when she resisted an encounter with a sex worker she also acknowledged on the witness stand that her feelings are complicated She testified that she still loves Combs and had planned to meet him in New York for one last hotel night when he was arrested last September The AP does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly as Cassie has Rapper entrepreneur and criminal defendant Combs was at the center of the East Coast-West Coast hip-hop battles of the s and became one of the greater part influential hip-hop producers and executives of the past three decades diversifying his interests with the Sean John fashion label Ciroc vodka a cable TV channel and a film and TV studio Along with his protege Biggie Smalls the Notorious B I G who was shot and killed in Combs worked with artists including Mary J Blige Usher and Lil Kim In Combs was at the center of one of the biggest hip-hop trials of its era stemming from a Manhattan nightclub shooting that injured three people in Combs was acquitted of charges that he took an illegal gun into the club and tried to bribe his driver to take the fall His career recovered fast that time Combs reputation may have suffered irreparable damage though after Cassie sued him in November alleging years of sexual and physical abuse He settled the next day for million but more lawsuits by other women and men followed
