SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Sean Combs has been sentenced to more than four years in prison after a lengthy hearing in Manhattan yesterday. The rapper, producer and businessman was convicted in July on two prostitution-related charges. Chloe Melas has covered the Combs trial for NBC News. She joins us from an airport now. Chloe, thanks for being with us.
CHLOE MELAS: Thanks for having me. Good morning.
SIMON: He was acquitted of the most serious charges - sex trafficking and racketeering. What are the two charges of which he's now been found guilty?
MELAS: Those are two counts of something called the Mann Act. It's transportation to engage in prostitution. And he was found guilty by the jury over the summer of those two counts. But like you said, he was acquitted of the more serious charges, which - he faced a life-in-prison sentence if convicted on those.
SIMON: Well, tell us more about this sentence of about four years. 'Cause the judge could have handed down something lengthier, couldn't he?
MELAS: So the judge could have given Combs up to 10 years on each count of the Mann Act, which means he could have faced up to 20 years in federal prison. The judge giving him four years and two months is actually quite a surprise because it is less than what the probation department recommended, which was between five and seven years. Now, it is not what Combs' legal team wanted, which was 14 months. I actually spoke to one of his attorneys, Brian Steel, last night outside of the courthouse following the judge's decision. And he said that they are very disappointed in this and that all they want is Combs to come home, and that they plan to appeal.
SIMON: We certainly heard a lot from Sean Combs' alleged victims during the trial. How did they receive news of the sentence?
MELAS: One of the first individuals to react to the news of Combs' sentence was Cassie Ventura, his longtime girlfriend, who was a key witness in this trial. And in a statement through her attorney, she says that nothing can undo this trauma, but basically, this is a step in the right direction - that this shows the serious nature of his crimes. The judge was very, very sympathetic towards Combs in a way in his final comments, saying, I've read all of the letters that were sent on your behalf. I listened to your children cry in front of me. It's clear how much they love you and they need you. Combs cried in court. Combs begged for mercy. But at the same time, the judge was very supportive of the women who testified during the trial. And he specifically praised Cassie and another woman, who testified under the pseudonym Jane.
SIMON: Do we know what time and where Sean Combs reports?
MELAS: So we don't know where he's going to be reporting to, but we do know that his team is planning to file paperwork on Monday with their recommendations as to where they would like to see him. There's a good chance that they're going to ask for home confinement, which the judge, sentencing him to 50 months in federal prison - it would be highly unlikely that then he would decide to grant him the opportunity to be on house arrest, essentially. Through my reporting, I've learned that his team is very interested in him, obviously, going to what you call a camp. That's where Ghislaine Maxwell is, the type of place Martha Stewart was. But I think you'll see him at a federal prison, but a lower level in terms of security.
SIMON: NBC News entertainment correspondent Chloe Melas, thanks so much.
MELAS: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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