Shocked Combs Holds Head in Hands as Court Remains Unswayed by Pleas for Leniency

The entertainment figure was seen holding his head and seeming dismayed when the magistrate imposed a over four-year prison term in a NY court on Friday for charges involving prostitution.

Even though this sentence was far less than the life term he potentially faced when his sex-trafficking conspiracy trial began in May, Diddy looked shocked by the outcome. The sentence was delivered just minutes after the accused had pleaded with the court official, claiming he took full "answerability and responsibility" for his conduct and saying he was a changed man who would, if released, commit himself to his relatives and the public.

The sentence was delivered with barely a noise in the chamber. Combs' family members and backers had been counseled by a clerk to control any expression of their sentiments in restraint.

After the judgment was announced, the defendant seemed startled to find two bailiffs standing nearby, ready to escort him back to Metropolitan detention center in the borough, where he has been incarcerated since his arrest 13 months ago.

Beyond the courtroom, there was a palpable sense of letdown as not one of government lawyers nor his legal team had received the result they desired. A trial that had included explicit accounts of sexual abuse, which the accused had stated was willing, finished in a kind of letdown. The punishment imposed – four years, two months – was 10 months less than a review committee had suggested and below 50% of the 11 years government attorneys had asked for.

Combs is likely to undergo only three more years behind bars, with the period he has already served removed. But the punishment was also, evidently, much lengthier than Combs and his supporters had wanted, and possibly even foreseen.

Sean Combs was found guilty of two counts of arranging prostitution in mid-summer, charges stemming from pressuring girlfriends to engage in elaborate "parties" involving escorts. However on the more serious allegations – of operating a mafia-like conspiracy that government lawyers alleged were intended to meet a desire for power and dominance – he was declared not guilty.

"Irrespective of whatever someone claims, I feel that I’m sincerely remorseful," he told Subramanian. "I became迷失 in overindulgence, I became迷失 in my pride. Because of my decisions, I sacrificed my liberty. I beg your honor for mercy."

Defense counsel had spent much of the hearing contending that his accused was a committed parent who had lost control of his life after an operation in the year 2000 that left him hooked to medication as his life descended out of control. His six grown kids addressed the court on his account.

However the court was unswayed by the defense arguments that Diddy should be released, in essence, on prior detention. They exhausted all options in that effort, offering pleas grounded in racial justice, youth adversity, and his past position as a corporate and African American figure.

The judge seemed unconvinced by Diddy's statement that he was a reformed man, noting that he had participated in an abusive "event" with "a witness", a testifier in the proceedings, subsequent to he published an Instagram statement subsequent to the appearance of video depicting him striking another ex-partner, the artist.

The judge cited evidence provided by Jane, an online personality, in which the defendant had instructed her to "ingest this expletive tablet, go out, suck his dick [referring to an prostitute]. You won't spoil my time."

"You mistreated them, bodily, emotionally and mentally," the judge informed the defendant. "How come did it happen for so long? As you had the authority and resources to continue it, and because you avoided detection."

He lavished praise on Ventura and the witness for testifying, calling them "brave individuals".

"No aspect about this case is favorable," the magistrate remarked, "other than the survivors who spoke out."

However nonetheless in its denouement, the proceedings of the defendant had an atmosphere of a show. Inside the courtroom, family members arrived attired ornately, while beyond the courthouse in downtown NYC, backers and public figures each seemed to exclaim more vociferously than the other into broadcasting tools, each motivated by enthusiasm spurred by nearness to his star status.

Yet Combs's trial will be remembered – as an excess by government lawyers who bet on converting a prostitution-related trial into a mafia-like conspiracy, or as an episode in extended narrative about forceful control involving money, intimacy and control – Combs himself may have stated it most accurately: he informed the proceedings his behavior had been "disgusting, shameful and unwell".