Hollywood actor and disgraced rapper Diddy is seeking release from prison. His legal team has contacted an appeals court regarding his situation.
Currently, Diddy is serving a four-year sentence after being convicted on prostitution-related charges. Reports from ‘Mirror.co.uk’ indicate that the rapper was treated harshly during sentencing by a federal judge. His lawyers contend that evidence related to charges from which he was acquitted unduly influenced the judge’s decision.
As per ‘Mirror.co.uk’, the former music mogul, aged 56, is incarcerated at FCI Fort Dix. He was transferred there from MDC-Brooklyn in October this year. Diddy is in a special drug treatment unit and is not eligible for release until 2028.
He was acquitted of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking in a trial that concluded in July. Combs faced conviction under the Mann Act, which prohibits transporting individuals across state lines for any sexual crime.
His lawyers argue that Judge Arun Subramanian effectively acted as a 13th juror during sentencing in October, imposing a sentence of four years and two months. They assert he made a mistake by allowing the evidence from the acquitted charges to impact the sentencing.
The lawyers pointed out that Diddy was convicted on two lesser counts—prostitution offenses that did not involve force, fraud, or coercion. They have asked the appeals court, which has yet to hear oral arguments, to acquit Diddy, facilitate his immediate release, or direct Judge Subramanian to reconsider his sentence.
“Defendants typically receive sentences of less than 15 months for these offenses, even when coercion—which the jury did not find here—is involved,” his lawyers noted.
“They claimed the judge disregarded the jury’s verdict, asserting that Combs ‘coerced’, ‘exploited’, and ‘forced’ his girlfriends into sex and led a criminal conspiracy. These judicial findings overshadowed the verdict and resulted in the longest sentence ever handed down to a similarly situated defendant,” they emphasized.