Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Asks Judge for ‘Mercy’ Ahead of Sentencing: ‘I Was Dead Wrong’

Sean “Diddy” Combs has a few things to say before his sentencing on Friday, Oct. 3.

Just two days after he was denied acquittal and a new trial and one day before his sentencing, Combs, 55, penned a four-page letter to Judge Arun Subramanian asking for “mercy.”

Combs’ sentencing comes three months after he was convicted on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution and acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges that could have forced him to spend the rest of his life in prison.

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The former music mogul underwent a nearly two-month-long trial following his September 2024 arrest and was denied bail five times.

Now, Combs says that he is taking “full responsibility and accountability for my past wrongs” in his letter to the judge, and expressing how “sincerely sorry” he is “for all of the hurt and pain that I have caused others.”

Combs said that he has experienced the “hardest 2 years” of his life and only has himself to blame for his “current reality and situation.”

The former producer said that his “downfall was rooted in my selfishness.”

Referencing the surveillance footage of Combs hitting and kicking his ex-girlfriend, Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, in a hotel room, as well as photographs that were shown during the trial, allegedly depicting the brutal injuries she sustained from him, Combs said they “play over and over in my head daily.”

“I literally lost my mind. I was dead wrong for putting my hands on the woman that I loved. I’m sorry for that and always will be. My domestic violence will always be a heavy burden that I will have to forever carry,” Combs wrote.

He reflected on his time at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, expressing that while there were times he wanted to “give up “and days he thought he was “better off dead,” “the old me died in jail and a new version of me was reborn.”

Combs said that he’s spent his time in prison “reading books, writing, working out, or in therapy.”

Combs also pointed to strides that he’s made while in prison, including becoming “sober for the first time in 25 years” and starting a six-week business and entrepreneurship class for fellow inmates, as previously reported by PEOPLE.

“I ask you for mercy today, not only for my sake, but for the sake of my children. God blessed me with 7 beautiful children—3 sons and 4 daughters,” Combs wrote, noting that he has “failed my children as a father.”

The former rapper also referenced his mother, Janice Combs, explaining that she is 84 years old and recently had brain surgery.

“I am unable to be there for my mother when she needs me most,” he wrote. “As I write you this letter, I am scared to death. Scared to spend another second away from my mother and my children. I no longer care about the money or the fame. There is nothing more important to me than my family.”

Combs listed the milestone moments he has missed, including missing three of his daughter’s graduations and losing the opportunity to teach his 2-year-old, Love Sean Combs, how to speak.

He said that he had lost all his business, his charter schools, and ultimately his career because he had “destroyed” and “stained” his reputation.

“Between of all of my losses and lessons, I can state for a fact that I will never be in another criminal Courtroom again and I do not believe any other person would do anything similar from fear of similar punishment,” he said. “If you give me a chance, I would like the opportunity to share my story with people to prevent at least one person from making the mistakes that I’ve made.”

Combs ended his letter by asking the judge to “make me an example of what a person can do if afforded a second chance.”

Federal prosecutors have asked that Combs be sentenced to more than 11 years in prison. Combs’ attorneys, meanwhile, have requested that he be sentenced to no more than 14 months in prison.

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If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.