Sean “Diddy” Combs faces a Might 5, 2025, trial date in his federal racketeering and intercourse trafficking case.
The embattled music mogul, who has been behind bars since his Sept. 16 arrest, was in a Manhattan courtroom on Oct. 10. Choose Arun Subramanian gave Combs’s legal professional Marc Agnifilo the choice of April or Might for subsequent 12 months’s trial, and he selected the latter, citing the quantity of discovery within the case, in line with an Inside Metropolis Press courtroom reporter.
Prosecutors stated they anticipate needing three weeks to put out their case, however that might change as a result of their investigation is ongoing, and extra fees could also be filed. The protection stated they count on to wish one week for his or her case.
Combs — who pleaded not responsible within the case — was supported in courtroom by his mom, Janice, and twin daughters Jessie and D’Lila Combs.
The listening to adopted Combs’s authorized crew submitting a 3rd attraction to get him free of jail.
On Oct. 8, Combs’s legal professionals requested an appellate choose to approve the “Final Night time” rapper’s pretrial launch “on applicable bail circumstances.” That features a $50 million bail settlement that prohibits him from witness tampering, the prospect of which was a part of the rationale why he was denied bail twice by two completely different judges. Combs’s attorneys name the district courtroom’s ruling “purely speculative” and argue that the “sensationalism surrounding his arrest has distorted the bail evaluation.”
In a separate authorized submitting obtained by Yahoo Leisure on Wednesday, Combs’s authorized crew accused the federal government of leaking info, particularly the 2016 lodge surveillance video of Combs bodily assaulting his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura. Agnifilo claimed the alleged leaks “have led to damaging, extremely prejudicial pre-trial publicity” that may “taint the jury pool and deprive Mr. Combs of his proper to a good trial.”
Here is what’s been taking place within the case, with authorized consultants breaking down what his third attraction request means.
Why the appellate courtroom is completely different — and why it might matter
Legal protection lawyer Mark Reichel tells Yahoo Leisure “there are two points at play which can be completely different” when it comes to Combs’s bail attraction.
“First, the appellate judges have far fewer circumstances and may have rather more time to check and take into account the problems. It’s a rather more sterile surroundings for an evaluation of the legislation and the info,” he explains. The Sacramento, Calif.-based legal professional says appellate courts lack “the drama and fervour of the trial courtroom” as there are not any witnesses within the courtroom and “the defendant is normally not there.”
Nevertheless, Reichel says there’s one notable “draw back,” which is the “customary of evaluate.”
“The appellate courts should not there to easily rehear each argument from the decrease courtroom. They’re solely there the place you’ll be able to present there was a considerable error. They permit the decrease courts extensive discretion within the rulings,” he says.
Combs’s movement ‘makes a compelling level’
Reichel thinks it is “an in depth name” as as to whether Combs ought to be launched, highlighting the protection’s “compelling” bail proposal.
The $50 million bond is secured by Combs’s house in Miami Seaside. He agreed to house detention with GPS monitoring. Non-public safety officers would monitor the Dangerous Boy Information founder always and restrict guests to an accepted checklist, together with no feminine guests apart from members of the family or moms of his children. His passport could be surrendered, and he is attempting to promote his non-public aircraft. Combs’s attorneys repeatedly identified that he had the means and alternative to flee after Homeland Safety raided his houses however did not.
“[Combs] has completed the whole lot he can do to mitigate any potential tampering with witnesses and attainable flight. He has made it inconceivable for the prosecutors to argue that he might flee. His supply makes {that a} bodily impossibility,” Reichel says.
Celeb lawyer Chris Melcher is shocked Combs was not granted bail with the above circumstances.
“Regardless of the seriousness of the fees, it’s stunning that Diddy is being held in custody as a result of he has no prison document, he voluntarily went to New York to give up himself, he supplied a $50 million bond, and was keen to topic himself to digital monitoring,” Melcher, who is predicated within the L.A. space, tells Yahoo.
“In his attraction, Diddy argues that there is not any credible proof that he tried to affect a witness. The prosecutor might want to current strong proof of witness tampering or take the danger that he might be launched,” Melcher provides.
Is the third time the appeal for Combs?
Specialists agree it appears unlikely Combs might be freed after two judges already denied his request.
“It’s not widespread for protection legal professionals to file a number of bail motions attempting to get their shopper out. The courts demand there be a change of circumstances with a purpose to deliver one other bail movement that means — a change that was not obvious or recognized when the unique bail movement was denied,” L.A. prison protection lawyer Silva Megerditchian tells Yahoo, including that she believes it was a misstep for Combs’s protection crew to name out “media sensationalism.”
“It’s noteworthy that the legal professionals appear to mock the decrease choose, stating that sensationalism and the media frenzy basically distorted the bail argument and ruling,” she continues. “I don’t consider this might be a profitable argument to any larger choose reviewing the movement.”
Reichel says that regardless of Combs’s compelling bail package deal, he thinks the appellate courtroom “will merely affirm” prior rulings.
Trying forward
The federal government has already turned over search warrants within the case, iCloud studies for 2 of Combs’s accounts and his telephone that was seized within the March raids, “which protection counsel particularly requested be produced within the first manufacturing.”
Up to date, Oct. 10, 2024 at 3:45 p.m. ET: This story has been up to date to incorporate {that a} courtroom date has been set.