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James Moorhouse
Warning: This article contains allegations of sexual harassment which some readers may find distressing.
The trial of Sean 'Diddy' Combs has reached its conclusion, with the jury returning a not guilty verdict on three of his five charges on Wednesday morning.
The courtroom were left stunned after he was found not guilty of the most serious charges, following a gruelling eight weeks in the New York courtroom.
The US rapper was initially charged with sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution, with a number of witnesses coming forward to speak out against the 55-year-old in recent weeks.
After his shock arrest in September 2024, the rapper has long maintained his innocence and showed little to no emotion throughout the trial, but fell to his knees alongside his family in the courtroom on Wednesday morning.
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Throughout the trial, we heard witness statements from Diddy's former partners, Kid Cudi and a male escort who was regularly hired to perform at the musician's infamous 'Freak Off' parties.
The court also heard from Mr Combs' former work assistants, with one detailing the gruelling work schedule they were forced to abide by, while Diddy's ex-assistant Capricorn Clark revealed she was 'kidnapped' at gunpoint by him during a plot to 'kill' rapper Kid Cudi.
After a partial verdict was reached on Tuesday, the jury were asked by the judge to continue deliberating and returned on Wednesday to reach a full verdict, finding him not guilty of racketeering conspiracy - meaning he has dodged a life sentence.
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He was also found not guilty of the sex trafficking of Cassie Ventura or his former girlfriend, Jane (who testified using a pseudonym), but the jury did return a guilty verdict on two counts of transportation for prostitution of both women.
While the racketeering conspiracy carried a minimum life sentence, and was therefore deemed as the most serious of the alleged offences, Diddy could still spend a significant period behind bars after the two guilty verdicts were returned.
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The maximum sentence for the transportation for prostitution is 10 years in prison, but we may have to wait some time until the rapper is officially sentenced, especially if the defence team succeeds in their plea for Diddy to be released from federal detention.
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Federal prosecutors said they would seek the maximum of 20 years in total, for the two charges on which he has found guilty.
Combs' attorney Marc Agnifilo has asked the court to release Combs from federal detention, where he has been for nearly a year.
Now that Combs is no longer charged with sex trafficking, Agnifilo asked that he be released on conditions to his home in Miami and offered a $1 million bond.
While the verdict brings eight long weeks of chaos in the New York courtroom to a close, Combs' legal troubles are far from over, given there's also dozens of lawsuits lodged against him.