New York, NY
NCS
—
A federal choose in New York on Friday denied a request to delay the sex-trafficking trial for Sean “Diddy” Combs by two months after his attorneys sought extra time to organize their protection.
Judge Arun Subramanian mentioned jury choice within the trial will start on May 5 as scheduled.
“It is unclear why there isn’t sufficient time to prepare,” he advised Combs’ attorneys Friday after two extra counts had been added to the case earlier this month. Prosecutors had opposed the request to maneuver the trial.
Combs, 55, has pleaded not responsible to 5 fees of intercourse trafficking, transportation to interact in prostitution and racketeering conspiracy that prosecutors say occurred over a interval of twenty years. He has been held in federal detention in New York City since his arrest final September.
Prosecutors have accused Combs and others of coercing at the least three ladies to interact in intercourse acts with him and, at instances, with male prostitutes. The events the place prosecutors say the ladies had been usually drugged and compelled to interact in intercourse for days had been often known as “Freak Offs.” Authorities allege Combs recorded a number of the intercourse acts and managed his victims by promising monetary and profession alternatives, in addition to by threats of violence and different hurt.
Judge Subramanian made two different vital rulings on Friday.
He said that the alleged victims within the case would be allowed to testify at trial beneath pseudonyms, apart from anticipated testimony from Combs’ former girlfriend, Cassie Ventura. The choose additionally dominated that the majority proof about prior sexual assault allegations towards Combs not charged within the indictment would not be allowed at trial.
This story has been up to date.