Prof. JaneAnne Murray Quoted in Billboard About Rapper Combs Possibly Seeking Presidential Pardon

Professor JaneAnne Murray was quoted in Billboard about Sean “Diddy” Combs possibly seeking a presidential pardon after his October sentencing. The rapper received a partial acquittal on racketeering and sex trafficking charges in a criminal trial earlier this summer. His conviction on lesser charges of hiring sex workers could bring a prison sentence of a few years rather than decades. His attorneys may seek to have Combs freed after sentencing either through a pardon, which wipes a conviction from someone’s criminal record; or a commutation, which erases a prison sentence while leaving the record intact. Their justification might be that the Combs’ conviction was unjust or racist. The rapper was found guilty of prostitution under the Mann Act, a 1910 statute that has a sordid history of being used to target Black men and interracial couples. Prof. Murray said, “The Mann Act is rarely used today. It comes out of a puritanical era, and its enforcement was driven by sexist and racist assumptions.”