What Happens When Federal Prosecutors Overcharge? The Mixed Diddy Verdict
“Diddy Gets Off,” shouted a New York Post online headline last Wednesday.
But hip-hop mogul Sean Combs didn't get off entirely. A Manhattan jury found Combs guilty of two of the five federal felonies he was charged with by the U.S. Southern District of New York — the two charges of transportation to engage in prostitution — but not guilty of three more serious charges involving sex trafficking and racketeering.
Throughout this trial, I've had little doubt that despite his not-guilty plea, Combs was a violent dirtbag who beat up women. After all, last year, CNN aired footage of the rapper kicking and punching former girlfriend Cassie Ventura in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016. That incident would be outside the statute of limitations, but the 2024 indictment alleges more recent crimes.
I blame prosecutorial overreach for the mixed outcome.
The sealed indictment maintains Combs repeatedly assaulted, punched, dragged and kicked women, and also was guilty of possession and distribution of cocaine, oxycodone, ketamine and other drugs.
Last year, the Combs indictment reads, law enforcement seized “three AR-15s with defaced serial numbers.”
Why didn't the feds charge “Diddy” plainly with assault and criminal possession instead of complicating the cases by maintaining his unlawful behavior was part of a criminal “enterprise"? Why overcharge a simple case?
As former prosecutor Elie Honig told CNN, prosecutors “did not have the proof this was a criminal structured organization, and it backfired.”
Also on CNN, Ventura attorney Douglas Wigdor said he believed the jury did not reject his client's testimony, but concluded the government had not met its burden of proof.
I called my old boss Pat Nolan, a former California state lawmaker pardoned by President Donald Trump after Nolan served 29 months for a racketeering conviction, to get his take.
Nolan agreed with my dim view of Combs, but he was pleasantly surprised that jurors showed “a level of discernment that a lot of times jurors don't have.”
“They separated the sheep from the goats here,” Nolan concluded. Nolan doesn't like it when the government charges racketeering in order to scare defendants into agreeing to a plea bargain.
Late Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian denied Combs bail — which also showed judgment.
The mixed verdict means Combs could serve months, perhaps even time served, instead of decades behind bars, as would have happened if he had been convicted on the more serious charges. Still, I don't think the hip-hop artist will thrive behind bars.
The Department of Justice's heavy-handedness has served Combs well. Usually, only when a defendant has money or other means to fight back do bigfoot prosecutors risk losing in court or on appeal. And that's not good for the public.
My beef with federal prosecutors stands: Too many care more about scalps than safety. They expand the definitions of crimes so they can press charges that generate headlines, when really, the actual crimes are bad enough.
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