Lawyers for Sean “Diddy” Combs appeared in a New York federal court today to appeal his 50-month prison sentence for prostitution-related charges, arguing that his conviction under the Mann Act should be overturned
Combs, who has been serving his sentence at Fort Dix Federal Correctional Institution in New Jersey since last October, did not attend the hearing.
His legal team requested his immediate release, claiming that the sentence handed down by U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian was excessively harsh.
“This case presents an important issue about respect for jury verdicts and public confidence in our criminal justice system,” defense attorney Alexandra Shapiro told a three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan.
Shapiro argued that the judge improperly considered evidence of f.raud and s.exual coercion in determining Combs’s sentence, even though the jury had rejected these allegations during last year’s trial.
“Defendants typically receive sentences of less than 15 months for these offenses—even when coercion, which the jury didn’t find here, is involved. But Combs got a sentence more than three times as long, despite the acquittals. He sits in prison today, serving a 50-month sentence, because the district judge acted as a thirteenth juror,” the defense said in court filings.
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