Attorneys for Sean “Diddy” Combs filed an expedited appeal Tuesday to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing it should order his immediate release and either grant a judgment of acquittal or vacate his conviction and remand for resentencing.
He is serving a 50-month prison sentence on two interstate prostitution convictions. A jury convicted Combs this summer on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. He was acquitted on two more serious charges: racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion.
In the appeal, Combs argues that prosecutors failed to prove their case and that his girlfriends and third parties were adults who "willingly and enthusiastically" participated in so-called freak-offs — dayslong, drug-fueled sexual encounters.
Alexandra Shapiro, Combs’ appellate attorney, said that his sentence was illegal and that U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian imposed a "draconian" sentence based on acquitted conduct, specifically the racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges.
Shapiro argued that Subramanian erroneously concluded that he could consider those acquitted charges and enhance Combs’ sentence, thus violating his constitutional rights.
A spokesman for the U.S. attorney for the Southern District Court of New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
In her 84-page filing, Shapiro says Combs should be sentenced for what he was convicted of: interstate transportation of adults for voluntary prostitution. She argues in the filing that Combs received a sentence three times longer than he should have, despite the acquittals on the more serious charges, because “the district judge acted as a thirteenth juror.”
After an eight-week federal trial in New York, Combs was sentenced to 50 months in prison, fined $500,000 and ordered to serve five years of supervised release. His expected release date is May 25, 2028, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
His attorneys argued when he was sentenced in October that the term was unconstitutional and said they would file an expedited appeal. That speedy appeal process was granted last month.
In the filing, Shapiro says the appeal has been expedited because her client has already served nearly 16 months of his sentence, which she says is more than the average sentence for what he was convicted of.
“If the court does not overturn Combs’s conviction, it should release him immediately and instruct the district court to resentence him only for the conduct of which he was convicted," the filing reads.
The 2nd Circuit rarely overturns district court rulings.
The U.S. government’s brief in the appeals process is due by Feb. 20, and Combs’ team’s reply is due by March 13.
