The lengthy legal saga of Sean “Diddy” Combs culminated in a sentencing hearing that was held in New York last week. Judge Arun Subramanian sentenced Diddy to four years in prison (or 50 months, to be more precise), and the rapper was also ordered to pay a $500,000 fine. Since the hearing, celebrities and legal experts alike have shared their reactions to Judge Subramanian’s decision. However, one of O.J. Simpson’s lawyers isn’t holding back about a major mistake they think Combs made ahead of his sentencing.
Apparently, even before the judge revealed Sean Combs’ sentence, the 55-year-old rapper was already making career-based plans. More specifically, Fox News Digital reports that Combs was making immediate plans to head over to another state for a speaking engagement. Such a move would seemingly indicate that Combs believed he would be released. Veteran attorney Alan Dershowitz – who famously represented “The Juice” during his murder trial – believes Combs’ actions in that regard were “stupid”:
I can’t imagine anything more stupid than that. How anybody permitted him to do that … It’s just a slap in the face to the judge. It’s outrageous. I can’t imagine any lawyer or any responsible person allowing … I would have quit the case.
While Alan Dershowitz seems to take issue with the “Satisfy You” performer himself, his comments also suggest that he’s disappointed with the star’s lawyers for “allowing” that speaking engagement to be discussed. The main argument Dershowitz seems to be making is that by working to organize a gig ahead of his sentencing, Combs was putting the cart before the horse. Dershowitz wasn’t done talking about the situation, either, as he expressed further disapproval of Combs’ business endeavor:
If I had been Diddy’s lawyer and Diddy had said, ‘I’m gonna make an arrangement, and I’m going to make it public.’ I would’ve said, ‘Yeah, and you’re going to get a new lawyer. I’m not representing somebody who is so stupid and arrogant.’ I mean, I’m not Dr. Kevorkian. I don’t believe in walking my clients into a death chamber. And that was a kiss of death.
Dershowitz actually isn’t the first member of O.J. Simpson’s “Dream Team” of lawyers to have commented on the Combs trial. Robert Shapiro weighed in following the conclusion of Combs’ sex-trafficking trial back in July. At the time, Shapiro theorized that the music mogul may be sentenced to 2.5 to 3.5 years in prison. Shapiro’s thinking stemmed from the fact that Combs received a mixed verdict at the end of his court case.
Sean Combs was found guilty on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution (under the Mann Act) and was acquitted of sex-trafficking and racketeering (RICO) charges. Those latter two offenses were the most severe charges Combs was facing though, even without them, he was still facing a maximum sentence of 20 years behind bars.
Following the sentencing, a reaction came from Diddy’s ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, who testified during the trial and previously sued him for alleged sex-trafficking, violence and more. Ventura’s lawyer released a statement to ABC News and, in it, he stated that the sentence couldn’t “undo the trauma caused by Combs” but it “recognizes the impact of the serious offenses he committed.” Meanwhile Danity Kane alum Aubrey O’Day cautioned young artists to keep themselves protected when dealing with people in power.
As it stands, Team Combs is planning to appeal the sentencing, though such a move hasn’t been officially done, as of this writing. Whether or not Diddy’s planned speaking engagement actually played into the judge’s decision, as Alan Dershowitz argues, is ultimately unclear. For now, the public at large will have to wait and see what Combs’ next move will be.