Ahead of Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sentencing hearing on Friday, October 3, prosecutors have argued that he deserves to spend at least 11 years in prison after he was convicted on two counts of transportation for the purposes of prostitution.
“The defendant will not be punished for any crimes of which he was acquitted, of course, but punishment for his crimes of conviction must take into account the manner in which he committed them,” prosecutors argued in a memo to the judge, according to an ABC News report on Tuesday, September 30.
During the July conviction, Combs, 55, was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges.
In the recent memo, federal prosecutors said that Combs was violent, abusive and left victims in fear. They also argued for a tougher sentence by claiming he held all the power over the people he transported who ended up “bloodied and busied,” per ABC News.
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The attorneys pointed out that there was video evidence shared by CNN that showed him assaulting his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura in a hotel during a 2016 incident.
“The defendant also horrifically physically abused Ventura throughout their relationship, a point he conceded at trial,” prosecutors said, adding that the sentence should reflect his “decades of unchecked violence” and “decades of psychological, emotional and physical damage he has inflicted.”
In the memo, the prosecution included letters from several people who witnessed Combs’ actions, including Ventura, 39, and his former employee named Mia.
“I hope that your sentencing decision reflects the strength it took for victims of Sean Combs to come forward,” Ventura, who testified during the trial, wrote in her letter. “I hope that your decision considers the many lives that Sean Combs has upended with his abuse and control.”
Meanwhile, Mia wrote that she hopes his sentence “reflects the full measure of harm that he has caused.” She continued, “A sentence that honors the truth, the pain, and the lives that have been destroyed. A sentence that gives us hope, protection, and justice.”
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“Please, your Honor. You have the power to show us, the world and the future that our lives, our voices, our truth, and our humanity matter,” Mia, who also testified during the trial, added in her letter. “Please help us.”
While the prosecutors want Combs to serve a minimum of 11 years, his attorneys previously argued that he should serve 14 months, according to a memo viewed by ABC News. The timeframe is essentially the amount of time he’s already been behind bars.
“The prosecutors, for their part, have lost all perspective,” the defense wrote in the memo. “This draconian approach makes Alice in Wonderland’s Queen of Hearts seem benevolent: instead of ‘Sentence first-verdict afterwards,’ the government’s view is ‘Verdict be damned—lock him up and throw away the key.’”
