Sean “Diddy” Combs was expected to speak in court during his criminal sentencing on Friday, as one of the prosecution witnesses at the last minute pulled out of a plan to address the hearing.

The hearing in New York got under way with family and supporters of Combs watching in the courthouse, as the judge said he had not fully expressed remorse.

Combs, with a grey beard, entered court from federal custody, wearing a light-colored sweater over a button-down shirt and dress pants, having gotten permission from the judge to wear “non-prison clothing” as he did throughout his trial. He greeted his family, hugged his lawyers and supporters as he walked to the defense table.

The hearing was expected to go on longer than originally envisioned, possibly even going beyond Friday, following the conviction by a jury of Combs, 55, earlier this year on federal prostitution-related charges.

A former personal assistant to Combs, referred to only by the pseudonym “Mia” throughout trial earlier this year, had been due to give a witness impact statement in court on Friday but moments after the hearing started, it was announced that she no longer wished to speak.

Instead, Mia submitted a victim impact statement that prosecutors are asking the court to consider in Combs’s sentencing. According to the prosecution, Mia has decided against speaking at the hearing because of a letter the defense submitted just this week that accused her of being a liar.

That letter “can only be described as bullying”, prosecutor Christy Slavik, said in court on Friday morning. “It appears the defense is trying to drown out the voices of victims in favor of character witnesses.”

The judge, Arun Subramanian, who oversaw the trial, agreed with Slavik and said the tone of the letter was “inappropriate”.

Subramanian gave prosecutors the freedom to cite “acquitted conduct”, a term used refer behavior for which Combs was charged but then found not guilty by the jury in July.

“The court will be best to determine whether it qualifies as relevant conduct,” the judge said, NBC News reported. “We consider all the facts to impose the sentence, but not greater than necessary.”

Combes had been convicted in federal court of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. He was acquitted of the most serious charges against him, racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking, which carried the possibility of a life sentence.

The charges on which he was found guilty each carry a maximum sentence of 10 years. Combs had pleaded not guilty to all of the charges. He has been unsuccessful since in asking the court to release him on bail and scrub his conviction. He has been in jail in New York since September 2024.

On Thursday night, Combs sent the judge a letter apologizing, talking about his suffering in jail and his struggles with addiction and asking for a second chance.

However, Subramanian said the “narrative” advanced by Combs and his lawyers that the case involved nothing more than transporting people across state lines to engage in consensual sexual activity was “flatly inconsistent with both reality and any acceptance of responsibility”.

The judge added that Combs had expressed remorse for some of his conduct, but said he had not apologized for the prostitution offenses at the heart of the conviction.

Slavik argued that the framing of the letter was Combs casting himself as “the victim in this scenario”, adding: “This is not a person who has accepted responsibility.”

The judge so far has said he agreed with probation officers that federal guidelines call for a sentence that ranged from just under six years in prison to just over seven years but also said the guidelines were merely advisory.

Combs faces up to 20 years in prison and prosecutors are pushing for a sentence of at least 11 years.

Slavik said on Friday that the defense was improperly seeking to portray Combs’s conduct as a “minor consequence of a sex, drugs, and rock and roll lifestyle” and argued the judge should consider his abuse of his girlfriends.

“To not account for it now would be to let the defendant get away with years of domestic violence and abuse,” Slavik said.

Combs’s attorneys have asked the judge for no more than 14 months in prison, which, given time already served, would allow for his release before the end of the year.

Quincy Brown, Combs’s eldest son, said in court on Friday that he and his siblings love their father unconditionally and that Combs has become a “changed man” who has learned his lesson. Chance Combs, his eldest daughter, spoke of that, too, and told the judge: “When we talk, he speaks with a clear mind and sense of purpose that I didn’t always hear before.” Combs was seen crying and wiping away tears as his children spoke.

Meanwhile defense lawyer Nicole Westmoreland became emotional in court as she talked of Combs as a pioneer for Black men in music, who changed the industry and the culture.