Latest news with #2ndUSCircuitCourtofAppeals


AsiaOne
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- AsiaOne
What's next for Sean 'Diddy' Combs after his sex trafficking trial?, Entertainment News
NEW YORK — Sean "Diddy" Combs was found guilty on Wednesday (July 2) of prostitution-related offences but cleared of more serious charges of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking. Combs, 55, had pleaded not guilty to all five felony counts he faced. Here's what's expected to come next in the case: Combs remains jailed for now US District Judge Arun Subramanian denied Combs' request to be released from federal lockup in Brooklyn until sentencing, given the evidence presented at trial of violent acts Combs had committed. "It is impossible for the defendant to demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence that he poses no danger," Subramanian said. Sentencing Subramanian suggested sentencing Combs on Oct 3, but said he would entertain a defence request for an earlier date. Combs faces a maximum 10-year prison sentence on each of the two prostitution counts. Prosecutors acknowledged in a court filing that federal sentencing guidelines appeared to recommend a sentence of at most 5-1/4 years total, well below the statutory maximum. Combs' lawyers argued that two years would be the outer limit. Appeal After Combs' sentencing, his lawyers may file an appeal of both his conviction and his sentence. To succeed on appeal, the defence faces the high burden of convincing the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals that Subramanian made legal errors that impacted the jury's verdict. Any appeal may take years to play out. For example, the 2nd Circuit upheld the sex trafficking conviction and 20-year prison sentence of British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell on Sept 17, 2024, nearly three years after her conviction. Civil lawsuits Rhythm and blues singer Casandra "Cassie" Ventura, a star prosecution witness, sued Combs in November 2023 for sex trafficking, the first of dozens of civil lawsuits accusing him of abuse. Combs settled with Ventura for US$20 million (S$25 million), but many others are unresolved. Combs has denied all wrongdoing. [[nid:719742]]


Mint
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Mint
Will Sean 'Diddy' Combs get out of jail? What happens next after being found guilty on prostitution charges?
Sean 'Diddy' Combs was found guilty on Wednesday (July 2) of transporting women for prostitution but acquitted on more serious racketeering and sex trafficking charges that could have put him behind bars for life. Now, the 55-year-old music mogul's legal fate hinges on several next steps as he awaits sentencing. Immediately after the verdict, Combs' attorney Marc Agnifilo urged US District Judge Arun Subramanian to release Combs on bond. Agnifilo argued that with the sex trafficking counts off the table, Combs should no longer be held in jail pending sentencing. 'In light of the fact that Mr. Combs is no longer charged with sex trafficking ... he should be released,' Agnifilo said, proposing a $1 million bond and strict conditions that would allow Combs to travel only between Florida, New York, and California while surrendering his passport. Prosecutors strongly opposed bail, citing what they called Combs' history of witness intimidation, drug use, and disregard for the law. Assistant US Attorney Maurene Comey argued that Combs remains a flight risk: 'There's a real risk that he will commit new crimes and attempt to flee justice.' Judge Subramanian did not rule immediately and instructed both sides to submit written arguments. A decision could come within days. Combs was convicted of two felony counts under the Mann Act for transporting Casandra Ventura and another woman named Jane for prostitution. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, meaning he faces up to 20 years total if the sentences run consecutively. Sentencing will be scheduled after prosecutors and defense lawyers submit formal recommendations. No date has yet been set. After sentencing, Combs is expected to appeal. His legal team will have to convince the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals. Appeals can take years. Judge Subramanian will decide whether Combs is released on bail pending sentencing. Sentencing arguments will be filed by both sides in the coming weeks. The sentencing hearing date will be set later this year. Any appeal will likely take years to resolve. As Combs left the courtroom, he smiled at his family and said: 'I'll be home soon.' Whether he will be released anytime soon, or spend the coming months behind bars, now rests in the judge's hands.
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Business Standard
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Business Standard
Court orders Trump admin to return man wrongly deported to El Salvador
A federal appeals court ordered the Trump administration to return a Salvadoran man who was deported from the US in early May as a result of an 'inadvertent' and 'improper' government error. The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in New York told the government to return Jordin Alexander Melgar-Salmeron 'as soon as possible' after officials said he was put on a flight to El Salvador on May 7 'due to a confluence of administrative errors.' 'The government is hereby ordered to facilitate the return of petitioner to the United States as soon as possible to 'ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador,'' a panel of appellate judges said in a two-page order Tuesday. The Trump administration, which has faced opposition to its deportation campaign, has said that it is prioritising the removal of criminals and other people who present a danger to the community. Melgar-Salmeron pleaded guilty to illegal possession of a shotgun and was sentenced to two years in prison in 2021. Melgar-Salmeron's lawyer, Matthew Borowski, said that his client had been affiliated with the MS-13 street gang, but left the group years ago and was working in construction. Melgar-Salmeron is married to a US citizen and has four children, he said. 'We're very happy about this ruling and look forward to his return,' Borowski said. He said his client's family believes he's being held in Izalco prison in El Salvador but 'there is no way of independently confirming it.' In a statement, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin called the ruling 'completely at odds with President Trump's duty to faithfully execute federal law.' She cited Melgar-Salmeron's criminal record in the US and El Salvador and said he'd been under a final order of removal from the US. The 2nd Circuit said that on May 7 Melgar-Salmeron was escorted onto a flight that did not take off from the US until 10:20 a.m., about 30 minutes after the appeals court ruled that he couldn't be taken out of the country. The US, meanwhile, conceded 'a perfect storm of errors occurred' that caused Melgar-Salmeron's 'untimely and inadvertent removal,' the court said. As in some of the other cases involving improperly deported immigrants, the judges ordered a government official with personal knowledge of the situation to provide them with Melgar-Salmeron's current physical location, his custodial status as well as what steps the US will take to facilitate his return.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Appeals court denies Trump plea to review $5 million judgment in E. Jean Carroll abuse and defamation case
A federal appeals court on Friday rejected another attempt by President Donald Trump to review a $5 million judgment against him for sexually abusing and then defaming E. Jean Carroll. A three-judge panel from the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Trump in December. Trump asked the full court to reconsider, but the court rejected the plea Friday. The president's next stop, should he wish, would be the Supreme Court. Carroll, a former magazine columnist, alleged that Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store in New York in the 1990s and then defamed her when he denied her claim, said she wasn't his type and suggested she made up the story to boost sales of her book. The jury found Trump liable for battery based on the sexual assault claim, that he should pay about $2 million in damages to Carroll for the civil battery claim and that he should pay her nearly $3 million in damages for successfully proving her defamation claim against him. While the jury found that Trump sexually abused her, sufficient to hold him liable for battery, the jury did not find that Carroll proved he raped her. Trump denied all claims brought against him by Carroll and called the civil trial verdict 'a total disgrace.' 'The American People are supporting President Trump in historic numbers, and they demand an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and a swift dismissal of all of the Witch Hunts, including the Democrat-funded Carroll Hoax, which will continue to be appealed,' a Trump legal spokesman said in a statement Friday. Two judges dissented from the order, agreeing with Trump's argument that the use of the Access Hollywood tape in which he bragged that stars can 'do anything' to women and other evidence of alleged prior bad acts was prejudicial. 'The result was a jury verdict based on impermissible character evidence and few reliable facts,' wrote Judges Steven Menashi and Michael Park, both of whom were appointed by Trump in his first term. CNN's Paula Reid contributed to this report.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Federal appeals court wrestles with Trump effort to fight hush money conviction
A federal appeals court in New York wrangled Wednesday with President Donald Trump's claim that his hush money conviction should be reviewed by federal courts and seemed open to the idea that the Supreme Court's landmark immunity decision may weigh in the president's favor. 'It seems to me that we got a very big case that created a whole new world of presidential immunity,' US Circuit Judge Myrna Pérez, who was nominated to the bench by President Joe Biden, said at one point during oral arguments. 'The boundaries are not clear at this point.' At issue is whether Trump can move his state court case on 34 counts of falsifying business records to federal court, where he hopes to argue that prosecutors violated the Supreme Court's immunity decision last year by using certain evidence against him, including testimony from former White House Communications Director Hope Hicks. 'The scope of a federal constitutional immunity for the president of the United States should be decided by this court and the Supreme Court, not by New York state courts,' said Jeffrey Wall, a former acting US solicitor general who is representing Trump in the case. 'Everything about this cries out for federal court.' The Supreme Court's decision last year granted Trump immunity from criminal prosecution for his official acts and barred prosecutors from attempting to enter evidence about them, even if they are pursuing alleged crimes involving that president's private conduct. Without that prohibition on evidence, the Supreme Court reasoned, a prosecutor could 'eviscerate the immunity' the court recognized by allowing a jury to second-guess a president's official acts. And so, the underlying question is whether prosecutors crossed that line by including the testimony from Hicks and former executive assistant Madeleine Westerhout, as well as a series of social media posts Trump authored during his first term criticizing the hush money case. The three-judge panel of the New York-based 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals, all appointed by Democratic presidents, asked probing questions of both sides and it wasn't clear after more than an hour of arguments how they would decide the case. The judges pressed the attorney representing Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on why the Supreme Court's decision last year didn't preclude the evidence at issue in the case. 'The Supreme Court used very broad language in talking about evidentiary immunity,' noted Circuit Judge Susan Carney. Bragg's office has countered that it's too late for federal courts to intervene. That's because Trump was already convicted and sentenced. Prosecutors have also argued that the evidence at issue wasn't the kind the Supreme Court was referring to. Hicks may have been a White House official when she testified, they said, but she was speaking about actions Trump took in a private capacity. 'The fact that we are now past the point of sentencing would be a compelling reason to find no 'good cause' for removal,' said Steven Wu, who was representing Bragg. Federal officials facing prosecution in state courts may move their cases to federal court in many circumstances under a 19th century law designed to ensure states don't attempt to prosecute them for conduct performed 'under color' of a US office or agency. A federal government worker, for instance, might seek to have a case moved to federal court if they are sued after getting into a car accident while driving on the job. Wu analogized Trump's argument to a postal worker who commits a crime on the weekend and then confesses to his boss at work on Monday. The confession, even though it happened in a post office, doesn't suddenly convert the content of the conversation to an official US Postal Service action. 'The criminal charges were private and unofficial conduct,' Wu said. Trump was ultimately sentenced in January without penalty. He had been accused of falsifying a payment to his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, to cover up a $130,000 payment Cohen made to adult-film star Stormy Daniels to keep her from speaking out before the 2016 election about an alleged affair with Trump. (Trump has denied the affair.) US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, nominated to the bench by President Bill Clinton, denied Trump's request to move the case to federal court – keeping his appeals instead in New York courts. Trump, who frequently complained about the New York trial court judge in his case, Juan Merchan, has said he wants his case heard in an 'unbiased federal forum.'