Defense attorneys for the hip hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs and federal prosecutors agreed to hold his highly anticipated sentencing hearing on October 3, the original date the judge proposed last week. The defense dropped a previous request to expedite the hearing.    

“For sentencing, the parties propose the Court’s original date of October 3, 2025,” a letter filed by the lead defense attorney Marc Agnifilo said on Tuesday afternoon. 

Last week a jury acquitted Mr. Combs, 55, of racketeering conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, and two counts of sex trafficking. However, the jury did find Mr. Combs guilty of two counts of transportation for the purpose of prostitution, also known as the Mann Act, which carries a maximum sentence of ten years in prison per count. 

The defense had asked to expedite the hearing for the sentencing and the presiding district judge, Arun Subramanian, scheduled a phone conference for 2 pm on Tuesday to discuss the matter. 

The conference only lasted about one minute. An assistant US attorney, Emily Johnson, and Mr. Agnifilo told the judge’s clerk that the parties had agreed to a schedule and a date for the sentence hearing, and that the defense had filed a letter accordingly. The clerk then said that the judge would take a look at the document, and adjourned the conference. 

The request to stick to the original date came somewhat as a surprise. Last week, the defense had asked to expedite the sentencing, reasoning that its client faced “exceptional circumstances” because the mother of four of Mr. Combs’ adult children (including one adopted son), Kim Porter, passed away in 2018 and Mr. Combs is the only parent.      

“The mother of some of his children had passed away many years ago. These kids, the two daughters here sitting in the middle of your honor’s second row, don’t have a parent,” defense attorney Marc Agnifilo said in court last Wednesday during the bail hearing, which took place a few hours after Mr. Combs had received his verdict.

Federal prosecutors first opposed the request, arguing that, “The only things exceptional about this defendant are his wealth, his violence and his brazenness,” as the lead prosecutor Maurene Comey, the daughter of the former FBI director James Comey, told the judge. 

But by Tuesday afternoon, prosecutors and defense attorneys appeared to have come to an agreement and up until a few moments before the phone conference, the parties asked for an expedited sentence hearing to be held on September 22. 

For reasons unknown to the public, the defense then changed the date back to the original date the judge proposed last week, which is October 3.  

According to Mr. Combs’ spokesperson, and various media reports, the rapper received a standing ovation when he returned to the Metropolitan Detention Center, after the verdict because he won a criminal case (at least partially) against the federal government. 

The judge had denied Mr. Combs’ bail request and sent him back to prison, where he has been held since his arrest last September, arguing that Mr. Combs’ “propensity for violence” made him a danger to the community. Judge Subramanian also cited the defense attorneys’ opening and closing statements, where they had admitted to the violence exhibited by their client, including in footage of Mr. Combs attacking his long time former girlfriend Casandra Ventura at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016.

In the bail letter, defense attorneys argued that Mr. Combs should only receive “21 to 27 months” for his Mann act conviction, adding that their client has “already been incarcerated for 10 months.” 

Federal prosecutors, nursing their wounds, indicated in their bail letter that they may seek a prison sentence of at least four to five years, specifically asking for a sentence ranging from 51 to 63 months. Though it was unclear if that is per count or for both counts. 

“Accordingly, based only on the preliminary calculations set forth above, the defendant’s Guidelines range is at least 51 to 63 months’ imprisonment,” prosecutors wrote in their bail letter sent to the judge last week on July 2. 

“The Government notes, however,” prosecutors added, “that the Guidelines applicable at sentencing may be higher than this preliminary calculation. The Government has not had adequate time to carefully consider all potentially applicable Guidelines provisions.” 

If Mr. Combs had been convicted of the more serious counts, he could have faced life in prison. Normally, a conviction of Mann Act violations for a first-time offender would yield minimal prison time. But this is not a normal case.

At last week’s bail hearing, prosecutors vehemently objected to the defense’s bail request, arguing that “the defendant serially abused a former girlfriend, Casandra Ventura and that Ms. Ventura sustained injuries from many of these assaults.”

Even though Mr. Combs had publicly addressed his bad temper and violence issues after surveillance footage from the 2016 assault incident at the Los Angeles hotel was publicized, he had not changed his behavior.   

“Despite the defendant’s claim in a public social media post that he was a ‘changed man’ following the leak of the surveillance video, the defendant continued to engage in violent conduct… . In June 2024, the defendant choked, kicked, and punched another girlfriend,” prosecutors wrote last week. 

The judge could take these violent incidents into consideration when he decides on the appropriate sentence. But before the sentence hearing, the probation office will also provide a pre-sentence investigation report (“PSR”), which can be objected to by the defense, and then answered to by prosecutors. 

The parties can also make oral arguments during the sentence hearing, which, as of now, is scheduled for October 3.