Sean “Diddy” Combs was convicted on two of the 5 counts in his federal intercourse crimes trial on Wednesday — particularly, he was discovered responsible of transportation to have interaction in prostitution. Nevertheless, he was acquitted of the extra critical expenses associated to racketeering and intercourse trafficking.
The prostitution expenses every carry a most sentence of as much as 10 years in jail.
The contentious trial started on Might twelfth, when prosecutors started presenting a chilling narrative of Combs because the chief of a felony enterprise working below the guise of his music and enterprise empire. Assistant US Legal professional Christy Slavik argued that Combs systematically used violence, coercion, and manipulation to manage his victims.
All through its seven weeks, the prosecution detailed how Combs allegedly leveraged his energy and sources to hold out and canopy up critical crimes, together with intercourse trafficking, arson, bribery, and bodily abuse. “Up till as we speak, the defendant was capable of get away with these crimes due to his cash, his energy, his affect,” Slavik mentioned in her closing assertion. “That stops now.”
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Conversely, the protection admitted that Combs “has a mood” and “could be bodily,” however characterised the allegations as a “cash seize.” In his closing argument, legal professional Marc Agnifilo accused prosecutors of placing his shopper on trial for his “way of life,” reasonably than actual crimes.
Agnifilo conceded that Combs beat his ex-girlfriend, singer Cassie Ventura, however referred to as their relationship a “nice trendy love story.” He additionally disputed a 2004 kidnapping allegation made by Capricorn Clark and characterised the accusation of Combs torching rapper Child Cudi’s Porsche as “nonsense.”
Transferring on to allegations that Combs conspired to distribute or possess with intent to distribute a managed substance, Agnifilo mentioned his shopper was a “drug addict,” which had nothing to do along with his companies and enterprises.
Furthermore, Agnifilo argued that Combs was on a “false trial” and was not responsible of intercourse trafficking, however reasonably a “swingers way of life” involving consensual “threesomes” along with his ex-girlfriends and male escorts.
Within the prosecution’s rebuttal, Assistant US Legal professional Maurene Comey mentioned the protection spent “an entire lot of vitality attempting guilty his [Combs’] victims and the US authorities for his lies, his threats, and for his inexcusable conduct.” Comey added, “Make no mistake: This trial was about how, in Sean Combs’ world, ‘no’ was by no means an possibility.”
A number of essential witnesses testified for the prosecution throughout the trial. Ventura spent 4 days on the stand detailing a decade of alleged bodily and sexual abuse. Cudi additionally gave testimony claiming that Combs broke into his residence and later organized for his automobile to be firebombed.
Prosecutors additionally referred to as a number of witnesses who testified to seeing Combs’ alleged violence towards Ventura, in addition to a number of Homeland Safety Investigations brokers, former private assistants, and male escorts.
The protection staff rested its case with out calling any witnesses or Combs taking the stand.