NEW YORK — Key witnesses towards Sean “Diddy” Combs, together with longtime ex-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, are urging a federal decide to reject leniency for the hip-hop mogul at his sentencing Friday, saying they concern for his or her security if he’s freed.
Prosecutors included letters from R&B singer Cassie, her mother and father and 4 others with a written submission Tuesday as they search to have Combs sentenced to no less than 11 years and three months in jail for his conviction on two prostitution-related costs.
Notably absent was the voice of an ex-girlfriend who testified beneath the pseudonym Jane. Like Cassie, she mentioned Combs subjected her over a number of years to dayslong, drug-fueled sexual performances with male intercourse employees that Combs watched and sometimes filmed.
Late Tuesday, Judge Arun Subramanian denied Combs’ request to have his conviction overturned, rejecting his attorneys’ argument that he was an novice pornographer — not participating in prostitution — and that the responsible verdict violates his First Amendment rights.
“Illegal activity can’t be laundered into constitutionally protected activity,” Subramanian wrote. He referred to as Combs’ filming “incidental,” pointing to trial proof that confirmed he did not usually give discover or ask for consent for filming, as a movie producer would.
Some who submitted letters expressed disappointment {that a} jury exonerated Combs, 55, of racketeering conspiracy and intercourse trafficking costs that would have put him behind bars for all times, leaving him convicted of two lesser Mann Act costs stemming from interstate commerce associated to prostitution.
“If there is one thing I have learned from this experience, it is that victims and survivors will never be safe,” wrote Cassie, who testified for 4 days at Combs’ trial, describing quite a few assaults that left her bruised and traumatized.
She mentioned she was 19 years outdated when Combs “used violence, threats, substances, and control over my career to trap me in over a decade of abuse.”
A former personal assistant who testified under the pseudonym “Mia” that Combs raped her in 2010 asked Subramanian to dispense a sentence “that takes into account the ongoing danger my abuser poses to me, and to others.”
“The defendant’s wealth, power, and fame should not place him above the law,” she said.
Ex-Combs employee Capricorn Clark, who testified that a gun-waving Combs forced her to join him when he broke into Rapper Kid Cudi ‘s home in 2011, suggested he’d benefit from spending time in prison.
“The last ray of light is that you provide justice to us,” she told the judge. “I truly believe that serving more time will save Puff’s life, as time away from his money, drugs, and power is the only punishment he will recognize.”
Stylist Deonte Nash said he doesn’t expect Combs to be in jail forever but was “praying for a sentence that allows the victims to heal and encourages Mr. Combs to genuinely change.”
Combs’ “has left a long trail of victims, many of whom still live in fear,” Nash wrote.
Jourdan-Cha’Taun Atkinson, Combs’ personal chef from 2007 to 2010, said she was set to testify but prosecutors pulled her at the last minute. She said federal agents served her a subpoena in March 2024 and Combs knew about it within two weeks, offering to cover her legal fees.
“I was extremely terrified,” she wrote. “Because how did Sean Combs even know I was contacted?”
Calling for the maximum sentence, she said she knew Combs “to be a very dangerous, and spiteful man. With a long memory, and a panache for payback.”
Combs’ lawyers have asked for no more than 14 months in prison, which would free him almost immediately. They argue that Combs has suffered enough during his nearly 13 months in a Brooklyn federal lockup.
Combs has become a changed man in jail, they said. He’s been under constant suicide watch and has learned to react calmly to threats, even when confronted with a shiv. They said Combs has realized that his overuse of drugs, some prescribed by doctors, had contributed to his violence.
Cassie wrote that she has daily nightmares and flashbacks and requires psychological care to cope.
“My worries that Sean Combs or his associates will come after me and my family is my reality,” Cassie mentioned. “I have in fact moved my family out of the New York area and am keeping as private and quiet as I possibly can because I am so scared that if he walks free, his first actions will be swift retribution towards me and others who spoke up about his abuse at trial.”
The Associated Press doesn’t usually title individuals who say they’ve been sexually abused until they arrive ahead publicly, as Cassie has.
This article was generated from an automatic information company feed with out modifications to textual content.
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