After a debilitating test, Sean “Diddy” Combs learned his fate.
The music magnate, sitting behind the defense table in clothing approved by the court, was acquitted on the most serious indictment in his trial of sex crime, in a split judgment that was pronounced on Wednesday 2 July.
After he heard that the jury had acquitted him of one count of racketeering and two counts of sex trade, clads Combs, 55, his hands together and raised them in a prayer movement to the jury.
Although the racketeering -declaration could have ended up in prison for life, the two counts of transport to start prostitution, of which it was convicted, each has a maximum punishment of 10 years, for a possible total of 20 years behind the bars.
Combs held his hand on his face after the verdict was read, while his legal team embraced each other. He then knelt on the floor, turned to the back of his chair and put his head in his chair as if he were praying. After a few seconds, combs got up and his children stood opposite the courtroom. He clapped and blew at them, as well as his supporters.
In response, his children and other supporters in the courtroom clapped. Combs then embraced lawyer Brian Steel, before the security combing the room walked out of a side door in the middle of the cheers.
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In this courtroom, Sean “Diddy” Combs sketches his sex trade in New York in New York on 27 June 2025.
Once a kingmaker in the world of Hiphop, infamous because he throws lush Bashen, Combs has been in a special residential unit in the metropolitan detention center of Brooklyn in Brooklyn since his arrest.
The verdict offers him a possible postponement if lawyers for combs claim that he is not an escape risk and must be released on bail. The government has prevented that, given the seriousness of the crimes he was charged, he should stay in detention. A judge will decide later in the afternoon whether he will be released.
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Asked if he wanted to return to the detention center by the judge, Combs strongly shook his head no, his hands up again in a prayer movement to the judge.
“He would be nothing less than a fool to do something,” that would violate the limitations of the court, Combs' main lawyer Marc Agnifilo told Judge Arun Subramanian. “He knows the chance he got.”
This article originally appeared on USA Today: Diddy Trial Decision Response was surprising
