Sean “Did­dy Combs was con­vict­ed of a pros­ti­tu­tion-re­lat­ed of­fence but ac­quit­ted Wednes­day of sex traf­fick­ing and rack­e­teer­ing charges that could have put one of hip-hop’s most cel­e­brat­ed fig­ures be­hind bars for life.

The mixed re­sult came on the third day of de­lib­er­a­tions. It could still send Combs, 55, to prison for as long as a decade, and is like­ly to end his ca­reer as a hit­mak­ing mu­sic ex­ec­u­tive, fash­ion en­tre­pre­neur, brand am­bas­sador and re­al­i­ty TV star.

What to know about the case:

The charges: Combs plead­ed not guilty to one count of rack­e­teer­ing con­spir­a­cy, two counts of sex traf­fick­ing by force, fraud or co­er­cion, and two counts of trans­porta­tion to en­gage in pros­ti­tu­tion. Sev­en weeks in­to the tri­al, pros­e­cu­tors dropped the­o­ries of at­tempt­ed ar­son and kid­nap­ping to stream­line their rack­e­teer­ing con­spir­a­cy count.

The ar­gu­ments: Pros­e­cu­tors called 34 wit­ness­es since the tri­al’s start in ear­ly May, in­clud­ing two ex-girl­friends of Combs who tes­ti­fied they felt co­erced in­to marathon sex events with male sex work­ers that were called “freak-offs” or “ho­tel nights.” Ju­rors were shown about 20 min­utes of video record­ings from the days­long events. De­fence lawyers, though, say they were con­sen­su­al sex­u­al en­coun­ters con­sis­tent with the swingers lifestyle.

The star wit­ness: R&B singer Cassie re­count­ed a tur­bu­lent 10-year re­la­tion­ship with Combs that she said was con­sumed by vi­o­lence and his ob­ses­sion with a form of voyeurism. Combs chose not to tes­ti­fy.