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Sean “Diddy” Combs was acquitted Wednesday of racketeering and sex trafficking charges following a two-month-long federal trial.
Backed by a “dream team” group of defense lawyers, the rapper was facing life in prison if convicted of the three charges, but a jury handed down a guilty verdict on two of the lesser charges of transportation to engage in prostitution.
High-profile criminal defense lawyer Mark Geragos – a longtime Diddy acquaintance and father of lead attorney, Teny Geragos – closely followed the case, and told Fox News Digital that the jury “absolutely” made the right decision.
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Mark Geragos praised Diddy’s defense for their court victory Wednesday. (Getty Images)
More than 10 hours into deliberations, the 12-person jury told Judge Arun Subramanian Tuesday that “unpersuadable” opinions prevented them from reaching a unanimous verdict on the biggest charge. Multiple notes were passed to the court from the jurors, with Judge Subramanian ultimately advising continued deliberations until a verdict was reached.
While it was unclear at the time what the verdict was, Geragos admitted to feeling somewhat uneasy.
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“When I heard they were hung on the RICO and had verdicts on the other four, at first I was not confident until I read the note,” Geragos said. “Once I read that note, I figured at that point that they would … I thought that they would hang on because, you know, they use the term, unpersuadeable jurors on both sides.
“That indicated to me that they had split the verdicts on the other four counts. The only thing that surprised me is how quickly they came back on the RICO with a not guilty.”
Sean “Diddy” Combs was acquitted Wednesday of racketeering and sex trafficking charges following a two-month-long federal trial. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)
Diddy knelt down with his arms on the chair in front of him after the verdict was read in court July 2. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)
The following morning, roughly two hours into deliberations, jurors reached a verdict and found Diddy not guilty of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking, with guilty verdicts on both counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.
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The judge joked that he assumed Diddy did not want to return to MDC Brooklyn, to which the rapper shook his head very exaggeratedly and then looked up with his hands together as if praying. After the judge left, Diddy knelt down with his arms on the chair in front of him. He then got up, faced the gallery and started clapping. The courtroom opened up in applause and cheers for him.
WATCH: Criminal defense attorney Mark Geragos weighs in on Diddy trial
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A hearing next week will determine a sentencing date where Diddy could face up to 20 years in prison. The government requested a term between 51-63 months, while Diddy’s defense is seeking a 21-27 month term. Still, Geragos guessed both of those numbers were far off base.
“Frankly, I think this case isn’t worth anywhere close to either of those calculations. But even if he gets it, he’s a prime candidate for some of the federal programs that are out there actually initiated by this administration and this administration’s prior iteration,” Geragos said.
Diddy retained Teny Geragos to help lead his defense team. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)
“So there are programs there that he could take advantage of, and I’m sure he will. I mean he’s had enormous amount of time – I call it a time out – and he’s used it productively. He’s reading, he’s thinking, he is talking. I know it doesn’t seem like it now, but I think in retrospect, when he’s out, it’ll be very, very productive.”
It’s unclear when Diddy will be sentenced and what term he faces following the court victory, which Geragos chalked up to the defense team setting the framework before testimony even began.
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“I’ve always said that cases like this are won or lost in jury selection, and so I think that the jury selection was instrumental,” Geragos said. “And then look, I’m biased. I think that my daughter delivered the opening statement and, frankly, from where I sat, and I watched it, I don’t think the prosecution ever recovered from that opening statement. There are a lot of studies that say jurors make up their minds 90% of the time after the close of the opening statement.”
Geragos added, “And by the way, I don’t want to denigrate Mark Agnifalo. He did a tour de force on that closing that had him literally rolling in the aisles. So it was a pretty amazing book end.”
During opening statements of Diddy’s trial, which began on May 5, Teny asked the jury to consider the federal charges, not the choices of an at-times violent man.
Marc Agnifilo previously defended NXVIM sex cult founder Keith Raniere. (Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)
“Sean Combs is a complicated man, but this is not a complicated case,” Teny told the court. “This case is about love, jealousy, infidelity and money. This case is about voluntary adult choices made by capable adults and consensual relationships. This case is about those real-life relationships, and the government is trying to turn those relationships into a racketeering case, a prostitution case and a sex trafficking case. It will not work.”
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She noted that Diddy “has a bad temper” and at times gets “so angry or so jealous that he is out of control,” but she emphasized that the “Victory” rapper was not charged with “being mean.”
“He is not charged with being a jerk. He’s charged with running a racketeering enterprise,” Teny said. “And though there was violence that you are going to hear about, you already have, that violence is not part of any RICO. That violence is not connected to sex trafficking and that violence is not prostitution.”