By Jennifer PeltzThe Related Press
NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs can’t go house from jail to await sentencing on his prostitution-related conviction, a choose stated Aug. 4, denying the rap and elegance mogul’s newest bid for bail.
Combs has been behind bars since his September arrest. He confronted federal fees of coercing girlfriends into having drug-fueled intercourse marathons with male intercourse employees whereas he watched and filmed them.
He was acquitted final month of the highest fees — racketeering and intercourse trafficking — whereas being convicted of two counts of a prostitution-related offense.
In denying Combs’ $50 million bond proposal, Choose Arun Subramanian stated the hip-hop impresario hadn’t confirmed that he didn’t pose a flight threat or hazard, nor proven an “distinctive circumstance” that might justify his launch after a conviction that in any other case requires detention.
Combs’ arguments “might need traction in a case that didn’t contain proof of violence, coercion or subjugation in reference to the acts of prostitution at difficulty, however the file right here accommodates proof of all three,” the choose wrote.
Prosecutors declined to touch upon the ruling. Messages in search of remark had been despatched to Combs’ legal professionals.
The conviction carries the potential for as much as 10 years in jail. However there are difficult federal pointers for calculating sentences in any given case, and prosecutors and Combs’ legal professionals disagree considerably on how the rules come out for his case.
The rules aren’t obligatory, and Subramanian may have broad latitude in deciding Combs’ punishment.
The Dangerous Boy Data founder, now 55, was for many years a protean determine in popular culture. A Grammy-winning hip-hop artist and entrepreneur with a aptitude for locating and launching huge abilities, he presided over a enterprise empire that ranged from vogue to actuality TV.
Prosecutors claimed he used his fame, wealth and violence to pressure and manipulate two now-ex-girlfriends into days-long, drugged-up sexual performances he referred to as “freak-offs” or “resort nights.”
Through the trial, 4 girls testified that Combs had crushed or sexually assaulted them. Jurors additionally watched video of Combs hurling one in every of his former girlfriends, R&B singer Cassie, to the ground, repeatedly kicking her after which dragging her down a resort hallway.
His legal professionals argued that the federal government tried to criminalize consensual, if unconventional, sexual tastes that performed out in difficult relationships. The protection acknowledged that Combs had violent outbursts however stated nothing he did amounted to the crimes with which he was charged.
Because the verdict, his legal professionals have repeatedly renewed their efforts to get him out on bail till his sentencing, set for October. They’ve argued that the acquittals undercut the rationale for holding him, and so they have pointed to different individuals who had been launched earlier than sentencing on comparable convictions.
Protection lawyer Marc Agnifilo urged in a court docket submitting that Combs was the US’ “solely individual in jail for hiring grownup male escorts for him and his girlfriend.”
Agnifilo additionally raised considerations about squalor and hazard on the Metropolitan Detention Heart, the infamous federal lockup the place Combs is being held. The choose wrote Aug. 4 that these situations had been a “critical” consideration, however he stated Combs hadn’t proven that distinctive circumstances –- comparable to superior age or medical points –- would warrant his launch.
The protection’s most up-to-date proposal included the $50 million bond, plus journey restrictions, and expressed openness to including on home arrest at his Miami house, digital monitoring, non-public safety guards and different necessities.
Prosecutors opposed releasing Combs. They wrote that his “in depth historical past of violence — and his continued try to reduce his current violent conduct — demonstrates his dangerousness.”
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Related Press author Jake Offenhartz contributed from Los Angeles.
