NEW YORK (AP) — In rejecting Sean “Diddy” Combs’ release on bail, a federal judge confronted the hip-hop impresario with a disturbing aspect of his criminal case that his lawyers couldn’t deny: his history of violence.
Combs’ defense lawyers claimed he is a changed man. But Judge Arun Subramanian on Wednesday let the Bad Boy Records founder know that his hopes for freedom soon are slim — even after the jury acquitted him on racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges that could have put him in prison for life.
Subramanian’s words signaled how he may approach sentencing Combs for his convictions on two lesser prostitution-related charges, which each carry a maximum punishment of 10 years in prison.
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’ 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.
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.
After tentatively setting Combs’ sentencing for October, the judge said he is open to a defense request that it happen as soon as possible, with further discussions expected at a conference Tuesday.
Combs’ violent past keeps him locked up for now
Combs, his family and his defense team were overjoyed by the verdict, some of them tearing up at the result. Combs pumped his fist in celebration and mouthed “thank you” to jurors. He hugged his lawyers and, after the jury exited, fell to his knees in prayer.
But, by the end of the day, Combs was deflated — his dream of going home after more than nine months in jail thwarted by a judge throwing his own lawyers’ words back in their faces.
“We own the domestic violence. We own it,” Subramanian said, reading from a transcript of Combs lawyer Marc Agnifilo’s closing argument to the jury last week. “If he was charged with domestic violence, we wouldn’t all be here having a trial, because he would have pled guilty, because he did that.”
The judge noted the jury had seen a video of Combs viciously attacking then-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura in a Los Angeles hotel in March 2016.
He also noted that another former Combs’ girlfriend — a woman who testified under the pseudonym “Jane” — was left with visible evidence of bruises and injuries after Combs hit her repeatedly in June 2024. That was a few months after federal agents raided two of his homes and “when he should have known that he needed to stay clean.”
The judge said that the beating, which Jane said happened before Combs forced her to have a sexual encounter with a male sex worker, was part of the prostitution-related offenses — violations of the federal Mann Act — that resulted in a conviction.
“This highlights a disregard for the rule of law and the propensity for violence,” he said.
Combs is ‘working on himself,’ lawyer says
Agnifilo, who had asked the judge to release Combs on a $1 million bond, insisted to Subramanian that Combs had changed dramatically in the last year. As he pleaded with the judge, Combs sat by his side and scribbled notes on small pieces of paper, occasionally handing them to the lawyer.
The attorney said Jane had written a supportive note to get Combs into a domestic violence intervention program. At sentencing, he said, the defense plans to have someone from the program tell the judge how Combs did.
“He is a man who’s in the process of working on himself,” the lawyer said. “He’s been a model prisoner.”
Agnifilo said Combs had “been given his life back” by the jury and “would be nothing short of a fool” to do anything to spoil that.
The prospect of a life sentence, the maximum if Combs were convicted of racketeering or sex trafficking, prompted “all sorts of the darkest conversations one can imagine about what your life could have been and what your life became,” Agnifilo said.
But Subramanian was unmoved by what Agnifilo called his “heart strings” argument.
“Having conceded the defendant’s propensity for violence in this way, it is impossible for the defendant to demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence that he poses no danger to any other person or the community,” the judge said.
Prosecutors also want violence factored into sentencing
Agnifilo indicated the defense will argue at sentencing that Combs’ violent acts are not part of the charges for which he was convicted and shouldn’t factor into his punishment.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey made it clear that prosecutors will argue the opposite.
Combs is “an extremely violent man with an extraordinarily dangerous temper,” Comey told the judge Wednesday. He “has shown no remorse and no regret for his violence toward multiple victims.”
Subramanian noted that Combs will be credited for the time he has already served.
But by rejecting bail, the judge indicated that he will likely reject a defense request for Combs to be freed in the next year.
Witnesses implore judge to keep Combs locked up
Deonte Nash, a former stylist for Combs and Cassie who reluctantly testified during the trial, told the judge in a letter that bail would “send a dangerous message: that wealth and influence can shield someone indefinitely from accountability.”
Cassie, through her lawyer, also encouraged Subramanian to keep Combs in jail.
“Ms. Ventura believes that Mr. Combs is likely to pose a danger to the victims who testified in this case, including herself, as well as to the community,” Cassie’s lawyer, Douglas Wigdor, wrote.
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