After an eight-week trial, hip-hop mogul Sean Combs quietly celebrated in a Manhattan courtroom after a jury convicted him of two lesser counts of transportation to engage in prostitution – but spared him when it came to the most serious charge against him – sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy, in a case that accused the impresario of coercing women into unwanted sex with male prostitutes – with the assistance of pliant employees.
According to the NYT‘s Julia Jacobs; ‘Sean Combs put his hands together in prayer and mouthed “thank you, thank you” at the jurors.’
Combs was charged by James Comey’s daughter with two counts of sex trafficking, one count of racketeering conspiracy, and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.
Prosecutor Maurene Comey argued that Combs was the head of a criminal enterprise who “used power, violence and fear to get what he wanted,” noting that he had used violence, financial control, and threats to manipulate his girlfriends into physically taxing sex sessions with hired men while he masturbated and filmed it (from a cuck chair?).
Combs’ attorneys argued that the government’s evidence contradicted its case (great job, COMEY!). They acknowledged that Combs had past issues with domestic violence and drug abuse, but that the accusation that he was a sex trafficker or a criminal ringleader was “badly exaggerated.”
The racially diverse panel of eight men and four women is from Manhattan, Westchester and the Bronx, and ranges in age from 30 to 74. One juror was dismissed a few weeks ago after the judge found that he had given inconsistent answers about his residence; he was replaced by one of the six alternates. -NYT
The charge he was convicted of carries a maximum sentence of 10 years, vs. the potential life sentence he would have faced if convicted of the more serious charges.
Also, some of the courtroom sketches are hilarious…
Loading…
