Combs pleads with decide in letter earlier than sentencing, saying he was ‘reborn’ in jail | Sean ‘Diddy‘ Combs

Dealing with as much as 11 years in jail at his sentencing on Friday, Sean “Diddy” Combs instructed a federal decide that he has skilled “a non secular reset”, and he hoped to be launched in order that he can return to his youngsters and his mom.

“The previous me died in jail and a brand new model of me was reborn. Jail will change you or kill you – I select to dwell,” Combs, 55, wrote in a letter to Choose Arun Subramanian.

“I not care in regards to the cash or the celebrity,” he added. “There may be nothing extra vital to me than my household.”

Federal prosecutors have argued the hip-hop celebrity needs to be sentenced to 11 years and three months in jail, calling him “unrepentant” and somebody who “engaged in violence and put others in concern”. His attorneys say he ought to go free this month, arguing his 12 months behind bars has been sufficient of a penalty.

After seven weeks of specific and generally painful testimony from 34 witnesses, together with two former girlfriends who described a sample of coercive and violent conduct, Combs was acquitted in July of essentially the most critical expenses he confronted, intercourse trafficking and racketeering conspiracy, however convicted on two prostitution-related counts.

On the time, Combs’s lawyer Marc Agnifilo referred to as the decision “a victory of all victories”.

In his letter to the decide who will sentence him on Friday morning, Combs struck a distinct tone, combining some apologies with vivid descriptions of his personal bodily and emotional struggling whereas in jail.

Fairly than make an instance out of him with a prolonged sentence, Combs implored Subramanian to “make me an instance of what an individual can do if afforded a second probability”.

Combs wrote that, now sober, and along with his thoughts clear of medicine and alcohol after a 12 months in jail, he can see how rotten he had develop into earlier than his September 2024 arrest.

“I misplaced my approach. I obtained misplaced in my journey. Misplaced within the medication and the surplus. My downfall was rooted in my selfishness,” he wrote.

He described “the regret, the sorrow, the remorse, the frustration, the disgrace” from his conduct that has made it “so laborious for me to forgive myself”.

Combs apologized to Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, a former girlfriend he had hit, kicked and dragged at a Los Angeles resort in 2016 – an assault captured on security-camera footage proven to jurors repeatedly throughout his two-month trial.

“The scene and pictures of me assaulting Cassie play time and again in my head day by day,” Combs wrote. “I actually misplaced my thoughts. I used to be lifeless unsuitable for placing my arms on the girl that I beloved. I’m sorry for that and all the time might be.”

Throughout the trial, Ventura, who testified whereas eight months pregnant, described a relationship marked by bodily and emotional abuse and management. She alleged that Combs was incessantly violent along with her, that he raped her after their breakup in 2018, and that he used threats to exert management over her.

Ventura alleged that Combs threatened to launch specific movies of her and minimize off monetary assist or stifle her music profession, as she was signed to his label, if she didn’t meet his calls for. She stated she typically used medication supplied by Combs to “dissociate” in the course of the sexual encounters.

Combs additionally apologized to a lady who testified underneath the pseudonym Jane, saying that “after listening to her testimony, I spotted that I damage her. For this I’m deeply sorry.”

Jane, who testified anonymously, stated that she initially agreed to group sexual encounters to please Combs, however that she later felt trapped and “obligated” to carry out – notably after he started paying her hire. Combs used the hire funds as leverage and in addition threatened to leak specific movies of her, dismissing her when she not wished to take part, she stated. She additionally described a 2024 altercation between her and Combs that left her with a black eye.

Combs wrote that the final two years had been the toughest of his life, “and I’ve nobody responsible for my present actuality and scenario however myself”.

“In my life, I’ve made many errors, however I’m not operating from them,” he wrote. “I’m so sorry for the damage that I prompted, however I perceive that the mere phrases ‘I’m sorry’ won’t ever be ok as these phrases alone can not erase the ache from the previous.”

In jail, Combs stated, he has been studying, writing, understanding and instructing a six-week course to different inmates, Free Recreation With Diddy, imparting his enterprise knowledge, in addition to classes realized from his errors and failures.

He’s additionally concerned in remedy, he stated, to cope with his previous drug abuse and anger points.

Combs instructed Subramanian that he was asking for mercy, not just for himself however for his seven youngsters and his 84-year-old mom, for whom he had been the first caregiver. Whereas locked up, he stated, he missed proms and graduations and significant elements of his two-year-old daughter’s growth.

“As I write you this letter, I’m scared to dying. Scared to spend one other second away from my mom and my youngsters,” Combs wrote.

He stated the circumstances of his detention at a Brooklyn federal jail are “inhumane”, writing that he’s locked in a room with 25 different inmates, with no home windows, no clear air, a damaged washer and water that needs to be boiled earlier than consuming.

“Should you enable me to go dwelling to my household, I promise I cannot allow you to down and I’ll make you proud,” Combs instructed the decide.

Anna Betts and the Related Press contributed reporting