Lawyers for U.S. hip-hop star Sean “Diddy” Combs have urged the federal appeals court in New York to immediately release the entertainer sentenced to 50 months in prison on related charges.
In the appeal filed this week, Combs’ lawyers are also asking the judge, if he cannot be released, to reduce his sentence, as they believe the court imposed excessive punishment in his federal trial, Variety reports.
In the 84-page appeal, reviewed by Variety, attorney Alexandra A.E. Shapiro argued that Combs’ 50-month sentence was longer than it should have been.
And he blamed Judge Aran Subramanian, claiming that he acted as the 13th juror.
The appeal claimed that Subramanian challenged the jury’s verdict and concluded that Combs coerced, exploited and coerced his girlfriends into sex, in addition to leading a criminal conspiracy, which invalidated the verdict.
“Defendants are usually sentenced to less than 15 months for these offenses, even when coercion is involved, something the jury did not find in this case,” the appeal reads.
Combs was initially convicted in July on two counts of transportation for prostitution and acquitted of the more serious offenses of conspiracy to commit racketeering and sex trafficking, which carried harsher sentences.
In his sentencing handed down last October Subramanian made it clear that Combs’ violence would influence his decision, citing video made public of the 2016 incident in which he attacked his ex-girlfriend, Casandra “Cassie” Ventura.
“The same power you used to hurt women you can use to help them,” he told Combs at sentencing. “I’m counting on you to make the most of your second chance.”
Shapiro also argued on appeal that the conviction should be overturned because Combs’ sexual interactions and the filming of those acts were protected by the First Amendment, an argument Subramanian had previously rejected.
Combs is currently serving his sentence at Fort Dix federal prison in New Jersey, with an expected release date of May 2028.
Filed under: Lawyers for Sean Diddy Combs
With information from EFE
