Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs rejects plea deal forward of intercourse trafficking trial

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs has formally rejected the US authorities’s provide to plead responsible and spare himself the opportunity of a chronic jail sentence.

The musician appeared in courtroom on Thursday, carrying glasses and a beige jail uniform, forward of the beginning of his intercourse trafficking trial subsequent week. He seemed to be in an excellent temper, and waved to the gallery as he arrived.

Requested by decide Arun Subramanian if he rejected prosecutors’ plea deal, Combs replied: “Sure, I do, your honour. Thanks.”

The 55-year-old is dealing with fees of intercourse trafficking and prostitution that allege he coerced girls into extended sexual orgies he known as “freak-offs”. He has denied all the costs towards him.

If he’s discovered responsible, Combs might spend the remainder of his life in jail.

At a latest listening to, his lawyer Marc Agnifilo provided a preview of the star’s defence, saying that the rapper led the “life-style” of a “swinger”.

Mr Agnifilo argued that whereas some individuals might discover that behaviour inappropriate, it isn’t prison.

Jury choice within the long-awaited trial begins on Monday – coincidentally the identical day because the Met Gala, the glittering charity occasion the place Combs was as soon as a mainstay.

The method received underneath method earlier this week, as potential jurors got questionnaires to find what they already know in regards to the case, a part of an effort in direction of discovering 12 individuals (and 6 alternates) who might be neutral, regardless of intense media protection of the case thus far.

Prosecutors and defence purpose to display screen as much as 150 individuals earlier than opening statements are given on 12 Could.

The trial is predicted to final at the very least eight weeks, with Combs’ former accomplice Cassandra Ventura amongst these anticipated to present proof.

Ventura, an R&B singer professionally referred to as Cassie, sued Combs in November 2023, accusing him of rape and serial bodily abuse throughout their decade-long skilled and romantic relationship, which he denied.

She settled the case simply in the future after suing – however CNN later broadcast surveillance footage displaying Combs hitting, kicking and dragging Ventura within the foyer of a California resort.

Combs’ attorneys had tried to get the footage dismissed from the trial, arguing that it had been sped up and the occasions have been proven out of sequence – though they didn’t deny their shoppers behaviour.

Nonetheless, Choose Subramanian dominated final week that the footage may very well be admitted.

Since his arrest in September, Combs has been jailed in Brooklyn – removed from the mansions in Miami and Los Angeles the place he had been dwelling, however about an hour from the Harlem neighbourhood the place he was born.

In pre-trial hearings, he has seemed older and thinner than his earlier playboy persona. His hair and beard have gone gray, since hair dye just isn’t allowed within the notoriously run down detention centre, the place he’s being held in a particular safety unit.

For his trial, nevertheless, the hip-hop mogul has been given particular permission to put on “non-prison clothes”, with informal enterprise apparel changing his tan jail jumpsuit.

In response to a courtroom order, Combs will likely be “permitted to have as much as 5 button down shirts, as much as 5 pairs of pants, as much as 5 sweaters, as much as 5 pairs of socks, and as much as two pairs of footwear with out laces to put on to courtroom”.

Defendants are sometimes given permission to put on their very own garments throughout a trial, as jail outfits might subliminally affect a jury’s choice.