The Trial: Split Verdict

At 9.52 a.m.

Wednesday morning, the jury sent word.

They'd reached a unanimous verdict in USA v.

Sean Combs.

The day we've been building toward for the last seven weeks is here.

It took the jury about 14 hours of deliberations before they found Sean Diddy Combs guilty of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.

But he was not convicted of the more serious charges he was facing.

The jury found him not guilty guilty of Rico or racketeering conspiracy, same for two counts of sex trafficking, one for Cassie and one for the alleged victim that testified under the pseudonym Jane.

After the split verdict, Combs kneeled on the floor, appearing to pray.

Once he got up and looked towards the gallery, a loud cheer and round of applause broke out.

And as he left the courtroom, he said to his family, I love you.

I'm going to be home soon.

Because Combs was acquitted of the more serious charges his attorney asked for him to be immediately released on bail pending sentencing the defense offered a million dollar bond but the prosecution objected saying the government plans to pursue quote significant incarceration for combs he still faces a possible sentence of up to 20 years in prison for the two transportation to engage in prostitution charges Cassie Ventura, the prosecution's star witness, had also urged the judge to keep Diddy locked up.

Her lawyer sent a letter to the judge that said she believes Combs is, quote, likely to pose a danger to the victims who testified in this case, including her.

It took until the end of the day, but the judge eventually decided Combs should stay in jail awaiting sentencing.

This is Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy.

I'm Brian Buckmeyer, an ABC News legal contributor and practicing attorney.

This episode, split verdict.

I want to share some of my early thoughts and reactions to this news.

Because as I sat there, listening and waiting for the verdict, I heard not guilty as to the racketeering conspiracy.

And I thought to myself, okay, a lot of predicate acts.

They just needed to.

Maybe this was a situation where they didn't believe that there was a criminal enterprise, that functional part of this charge that center of the racketeering conspiracy and if there's no enterprise there's no rico

and then they went to the next count count two not guilty and i knew that was sex trafficking for cassie and that's the one that really shocked me because of all of the violence of all we saw from the photos of the injuries to the intercontinental video.

I thought if there was ever an alleged victim who would get this charge, either because of the facts of the case or just the brutality that they saw, it'd be Cassie.

And I knew in my mind, if they did not find Sean Combs guilty of sex trafficking Cassie, there would be no way that they would find him guilty of trafficking Jane.

And so from there, I was not surprised.

I knew he'd be found guilty of transportation to engage in prostitution because he could be found guilty of those two charges for transporting either Cassie or Jane or any of the 27 sex workers who say they went across state lines and we saw all of the receipts for the hotels and the planes and the text messages.

There was no argument for that.

I mean, they tried to make an argument, but there was no actual legal argument for that.

And so now, when I heard that, my first thought was, Mark Agnifolo is going to ask for him to be released pending sentencing.

They're going to try to make it that these charges are not run consecutively, but instead concurrently.

And if they can can get a sentence that is sub five years, that's a win.

As a defense attorney, when your client is looking at life and you got them five years, where they've already served almost a single year.

As you've heard me say before on this podcast, I think that the age of the jury could have been more important, not necessarily gender or race.

Because when you're having the conversation about consent, we as a society are still grappling with what that is.

And I think there are varying degrees of understanding and belief as to what consent is based on the age of an individual.

Someone who is 65 has a different opinion of someone who is 40, who has a different opinion of someone who is 20, but all three of those people can find themselves on a jury.

And when you have a jury that over half of them is 51 years or older, I think that has a big part to play in a case like this.

If there's anything to glean from the decision of the jury, it would be this.

Either one,

there is no criminal enterprise.

Or two,

12 people could not unanimously decide on at least two predicate acts.

When it comes to both Cassie and Jane,

there had to have been a belief that at some point and in some way this was consensual.

That Sean Combs might have been a brutal and violent boyfriend.

He might have abused women in a way that no person or no woman should ever be subjected to.

That he is in many ways an indefensible human being as it applies to how he treats others.

But one thing he is not is a trafficker.

And the jury must have been laser focused on that concept, that belief, and the elements of the crimes of trafficking as it applied to both Cassie and Jane to come back with this verdict.

Coming up, what you need to know about the sentencing

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So that's it for the trial.

But that's not the end of the case.

The next thing we'll be looking for is sentencing.

Transportation to engage in prostitution carries a maximum of 10 years in prison.

There is no mandatory minimum.

Theoretically speaking, he could get probation, just throwing it out there.

But he was found guilty of two counts.

Now, you're probably going to hear a lot of people say 20 years, 20 years, 20 years.

How do they get to that?

Because the transportation to engage in prostitution could be considered two separate and distinct acts, the judge would have the authority, and the government, I believe, is definitely going to ask for those sentences to be run consecutively, not concurrently, meaning one after the other.

That's why 10 and 10 would equal 20.

The defense, of course, is going to ask for those allegations or those counts to be run concurrently.

So even if worst case scenario, he gets the maximum 10 and 10 running concurrently, it would only be 10 years in prison.

Sentencing could happen anywhere from 45 days to two or three months.

It would heavily depend on the arguments that both sides, the government government or the defense makes, in terms of what they believe they need to prepare for such an event.

Prior to sentencing, Sean Combs will have an interview with the probation department.

They will create a PSI or a pre-sentencing investigation.

That's when they look to the history of Sean Combs, both as a person and any kind of criminal history, as well as any mitigating or aggravating circumstances.

We've already heard that the government expects to ask for a very significant amount of prison time, and they're going to lean upon those aggravating circumstances to get a sentencing range or get a sentence of Sean Combs above what might be his guidelines or the recommendation from probation.

We also know from their letter to the court asking Sean Combs to remain behind bars pending that sentence that they believe Sean Combs' sentencing guidelines should be anywhere from 51 months to 63 months in prison.

But the defense has also made their calculation as to how much time they believe Sean Combs should face, saying that his sentencing guidelines should be anywhere from 21 to 27 months with the understanding that he's already served 10 months in jail waiting for this trial.

Who ultimately decides is the judge.

The judge will take the recommendation from probation, the arguments from both sides, and look at the sentencing guidelines and say, this is what I'm going to give Sean Combs.

Of course, a big part of the argument, as I said earlier, is, are those sentences going to run consecutively or concurrently?

Being acquitted of the other charges, theoretically, should not affect the case, but in actuality, those allegations can still be applied to Sean Combs during sentencing.

So you're sentenced not just in what you're convicted of, but what you're technically accused of.

And so, while Sean Combs is not a sex trafficker by law, the government will still bring up the alleged incidences of Cassie being brutally assaulted, allegations of Cassie being compelled or forced to go across state lines for commercial sex, and all of the alleged recitations that come from the RICO and sex trafficking.

And those would be applied to the sentencing.

Doesn't sound fair in some regards, depending on who you ask.

If you beat a charge, why should those allegations be used against you?

But they still can be.

Hey listeners, what do you think of the verdict and what questions do you have about it?

Leave us a question or comment at 929-388-1249.

You might hear your message in the podcast.

And stay tuned to this feed for a deeper look at this verdict and what it means.

If you appreciate this coverage, please share it and give us a rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

And if you're looking for even more coverage of the Diddy trial, you can check out ABC and ABCNews.com.

Bad Rap, The Case Against Diddy, is a production of ABC Audio.

I'm Brian Buckmeyer.

To you, my darling.

No, to you.

The roses were living the dream.

More champagne for me, Pete.

Until it all came crashing down.

He got fired by it.

From the director of Meet the Parents.

You're a failure.

Women don't like that.

If you need a shoulder or an inner thigh to lean on.

On August 29th.

I just want the house.

We want everything.

Wow.

Stop.

Yes, go!

And see the roses.

These people.

The roses.

Rated R.

Under 17, 9 Minute Without Parent.

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