Music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs was sentenced to more than four years in prison on Friday after being convicted on prostitution-related charges.
Prosecutors had sought 11 years behind bars for Combs, but Judge Arun Subramanian handed down a 50-month sentence following an emotional daylong court hearing.
Combs’s lawyers had urged the judge to sentence the 55-year-old hip-hop star to 14 months, which would have effectively been time served since he has been incarcerated in Brooklyn for over a year.
Addressing the court before the sentence was handed down, Combs said he was “truly sorry” for his actions and asked the judge for “another chance.”
“I ask your honour for mercy,” he said. “I beg your honour for mercy.”
Combs was acquitted by a jury in July of the most serious charges against him—sex trafficking and racketeering—but was convicted of two counts of transporting people across state lines for prostitution.
Combs’s former girlfriend, the 39-year-old singer Casandra Ventura (known as Cassie), submitted a letter to the judge asking him to consider “the many lives that Sean Combs has upended with his abuse and control.”
Ventura described in “wrenching detail” the physical, emotional, and sexual abuse she suffered during their decade-long relationship.
She and another woman, identified as Jane, said they were coerced into performing so-called “freak offs,” which were sexual marathons with hired men that Combs directed and sometimes filmed.
Ventura wrote, “The entire courtroom watched actual footage of Combs kicking and beating me as I tried to run away from a freak off in 2016.”
She further stated that she now suffers nightmares and flashbacks “on a regular, everyday basis.”
Ventura said she and her family had left the New York area for fear of “retribution” from Combs if he were released.
Prosecutor Christy Slavik argued before the sentencing that Combs had not accepted responsibility for his actions.
“His remorse was qualified. It’s as though he thinks the law doesn’t apply to him,” Slavik said.
Slavik noted that Combs had booked speaking engagements in Miami for the following week in anticipation of a light sentence, which she called “the height of hubris.”
Arguing for a lesser sentence, Nicole Westmoreland, one of Combs’s lawyers, called him an “inspiration” to the Black community.
She argued that “No, Combs is not larger than life… He’s just a human being. He’s made mistakes.”
She added that he is remorseful and “it’s of no benefit to anyone to warehouse him in a prison.”
Combs’s six adult children also delivered emotional pleas on their father’s behalf, with his eldest son, Quincy Brown, calling him “a changed man.”
One of his daughters, D’Lila Combs, said, “Please, please give our family the chance to heal together… Not as headlines but as human beings.”
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