Diddy Appeals Conviction and 50-Month Prison Sentence

Last year, Sean “Diddy” Combs was convicted on two counts of engaging in transportation to engage in prostitution (Mann Act Transportation) but was found not guilty on racketeering conspiracy and sex-trafficking charges.

On Thursday, Combs officially appealed his conviction in court.

His lawyers Alexandra Shapiro and Nicole Westmoreland argued that the Mann Act doesn’t apply in this case, saying, “Freak-offs and hotel nights were highly choreographed sexual performances involving the use of costumes, role play, and staged lighting, which were filmed so Combs and his girlfriends could watch this amateur pornography later. Pornography production and viewing of this sort is protected by the First Amendment and thus cannot constitutionally be prosecuted.”

While Diddy’s team insisted that he was wrongfully convicted and should be freed under the First Amendment, the prosecution called the argument “meritless” because the rap mogul is “entirely differently situated from adult film distributors.”

The prosecutors told the court, “He hired and transported commercial sex workers to have sex with his girlfriends for his own sexual gratification, sometimes directly participating in the sex acts.”

Diddy’s legal team also pleaded their case that his 50-month sentence is “the highest sentence ever imposed on a Mann Act defendant under the same-based defense level,” arguing that the typical sentence is 15 months and he’s already served 19 months.

They claim that Judge Arun Subramanian, who was in charge of the case, based his sentencing on the racketeering and sex-trafficking allegations, which was the rapper was acquitted of.

During the hearing, Shapiro stressed, “We made it abundantly clear. The District Court should not consider the acquitted conduct.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Slavik challenged Diddy’s legal team, saying that that the prison sentence was below what federal sentencing usually called for and was within reason with similar convictions.

Slavik defended Judge Subramanian’s sentencing, saying he “correctly applied” the acquitted conduct when looking at the “aggravated manner in which [Combs] committed his Mann Act offenses.”

Despite two hours in the courtroom, the three-judge panel didn’t immediately rule on the case.

Diddy was not present at the hearing.