Sean “Diddy” Combs’ lawyers are requesting he is shown leniency with a 14-month prison sentence over two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.
In a sentencing memorandum submitted on Monday, September 22, and obtained by Us Weekly, Diddy’s legal team urged Judge Arun Subramanian to consider a 14-month sentence followed by a supervised release with mandatory drug treatment, individual therapy and group therapy.
Diddy’s lawyers said that “the proposed sentence is the only just and fair sentence for Mr. Combs,” because guidelines for “Mr. Combs’s crimes of conviction” are usually six to 12 months.
The musician’s lawyers also said that he “has been adequately punished by serving 13 months in the terrible conditions” at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where he has been detained since his initial arrest in September 2024. These conditions, they argued, include “constant suicide watch,” where he is checked upon by security guards every two hours, even while sleeping, “limited access to clean water,” and “lack of access to healthy, or edible, food.”
The lawyers further cited that Diddy “became sober for the first time in 25 years” and has an “incident-free record” in prison, has no prior criminal history, and “has already seen how being arrested and convicted can destroy his reputation and lead to terrible collateral consequences for his businesses, and he recognizes the consequences his actions have had for himself and his family.” The lawyers also said that Diddy “has seven children and an elderly mother who rely on him for support and care.”
Monday’s memorandum was accompanied by dozens of letters of support written by Diddy’s loved ones, including his mom, Janice Combs, asking Judge Subramanian “to have mercy on my son.” Janice, 84, wrote that the past year “has been excruciatingly difficult and painful for me and his children” amid Diddy’s incarceration. She also said that her health had deteriorated in the last “couple of years.” As such, “I don’t know how much longer I will be around, but I would love to see [Diddy] and his children together again.”
Sean “Diddy” Combs and his mom, Janice Smalls Combs, have had a tight-knit bond throughout his life. “My mother was always working for a job, so I guess I was always trained that I should have multiple jobs, multiple aspirations,” Diddy said in a 2010 interview with Nightline. “And I remember she had multiple aspirations, […]
Diddy is due to be sentenced on October 3 following his July conviction on two prostitution-related charges. He was acquitted of three further charges: two counts of sex trafficking and one count of racketeering conspiracy. (Diddy pleaded not guilty to all charges against him and has maintained his innocence since his September 2024 arrest.)
On Thursday, September 25, Subramanian will also preside over a hearing to consider Diddy’s motion for acquittal or a new trial, which his lawyers filed in late July.
