Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs asks judge to throw out guilty verdicts or grant him a new trial
By ANDREW DALTON Associated Press Sean Diddy Combs has petitioned a judge to throw out his guilty verdicts on prostitution-related counts or grant him a new trial saying such convictions are without precedent This conviction stands alone but it shouldn t stand at all the Wednesday filing commented Combs lawyers argue that his two felony convictions were a unique misapplication of the federal Mann Act which bars interstate commerce related to prostitution To our knowledge Mr Combs is the only person ever convicted of violating the statute for conduct anything like this a Wednesday filing from Combs legal gang disclosed Related Articles Establishment to keep sharing key satellite evidence for hurricane forecasting despite planned cutoff US childhood vaccination rates fall again as exemptions set another record Search for answers after Texas deadly floods brings lawmakers to devastated Hill Country Hulk Hogan s cause of death was a heart attack curative examiner says Fewer Americans see discrimination as anti-DEI push gains traction poll shows Combs was convicted in a New York federal court of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution for flying people around the country including his girlfriends and male sex workers for sexual encounters while he was acquitted of more serious charges He could get up to a decade in prison at his sentencing set for Oct His lawyers argued that none of the elements normally used for Mann Act convictions including profiting from sex work or coercion were present here It is undisputed that he had no commercial motive and that all involved were adults The filing mentioned The men chose to tour and engage in the activity voluntarily The verdict confirms the women were not vulnerable or exploited or trafficked or sexually assaulted The lawyers announced that Combs at the bulk paid to engage in voyeurism as part of a swingers lifestyle and argued that does not constitute prostitution under a properly limited definition of the statutory term Combs was acquitted of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges could have put one of hip-hop s celebrated figures in prison for life The new motion asks Judge Arun Subramanian to vacate the jury s verdict or to order a new trial whose evidence is limited to matters related to the Mann Act counts because of severe spillover prejudice from reams of inflammatory evidence related to the more serious counts Prosecutors insisted during the eight-week trial that Combs had coerced threatened and sometimes viciously forced two ex-girlfriends to have sex with male sex workers to satisfy his sexual urges They cited multiple acts of violence he carried out against them as proof that they had no say A day earlier Combs organization appealed the judge to free him on a million bond while he awaits sentencing in October after a jury revealed him not guilty of the preponderance serious federal charges he faced earlier this month His lawyer argued that conditions at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn are dangerous noting that others convicted of similar prostitution-related offenses were typically published before sentencing Subramanian previously denied a request that Combs be circulated on bail while he awaits sentencing citing a now-infamous video of Combs beating a former girlfriend and photographs showing injuries to another ex-girlfriend The judge has not yet ruled on either of this week s motions
