11 October 2024, 01:01 | Updated: 11 October 2024, 01:04
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Alamy
Rapper ‘P Diddy’ has made a sombre appearance in court for his trial date to be set in a sex trafficking case.
Sean “Diddy” Combs appeared before Judge Arun Subramanian in Manhattan federal court on Thursday.
After entering the courtroom, he was seen hugging each of his lawyers.
His mother, Janice Smalls Combs, attended the hearing along with his daughters, Chance, D’Lila, and Jessie Combs.
Combs’ sons, Justin Dior and King Combs, were also there.
The rapper has spent weeks behind bars after two requests for bail were denied.
Last month, he was charged with racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking based on allegations that go back to 2008.
Since his arrest, 120 people have come forward with allegations.
Combs has pleaded not guilty, with him set to face a jury in spring.
A trial start date of May 5 has been set, with deadlines also put in place for lawyers on each side to submit arguments that will establish the boundaries for the trial.
The judge set another date for Combs to appear in court in December, though he said lawyers may decide it is not necessary.
Read more: Rapper ‘P Diddy’ faces sexual misconduct allegations from 120 new people, lawyer says
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Alamy
At Thursday’s hearing, assistant US attorney Emily Johnson said 96 electronic devices were seized in raids in March on Combs’ residences in Miami and LA and at an unspecified private airport in Florida.
She said another four devices were seized when Combs was arrested last month.
Eight devices seized in Miami contained more than 90 terabytes of information, she said, which she labelled as “extraordinary” as she explained delays in extracting some information for technological reasons.
An indictment alleges he coerced and abused women for years with help from a network of associates and employees while silencing victims through blackmail and violent acts including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings.
Late on Wednesday, lawyers for Combs submitted court papers blaming the Department of Homeland Security for a leak to the media of a video of Combs punching and kicking his former protege and girlfriend, R&B singer Cassie, in a hotel hallway in 2016.
The lawyers claimed the video had “led to damaging, highly prejudicial pre-trial publicity that can only taint the jury pool and deprive Mr Combs of his right to a fair trial”.
After the video was broadcast, Combs posted a social media video apologising, saying “I was disgusted when I did it” and “I’m disgusted now”.
Federal prosecutors responded to the defence lawyers’ claims by telling the judge in a letter that the government was not in possession of the video before it was aired on CNN.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs arrested in New York after federal indictment
Combs’ lawyers have been trying to get him freed on bail since his arrest on September 16.
Two judges have concluded that Combs would be a danger to the community if he was freed.
At a bail hearing three weeks ago, a judge rejected a 50 million dollar bail package, including home detention and electronic monitoring, after concluding that Combs was a threat to tamper with witnesses and obstruct a continuing investigation.
In an appeal over the bail rulings to the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals, lawyers for Combs on Tuesday asked a panel of judges to reverse the bail findings, saying the proposed package “would plainly stop him from posing a danger to anyone or contacting any witnesses”.
They urged the appeals court to reject the findings of a lower court judge who they said had “endorsed the government’s exaggerated rhetoric and ordered Mr Combs detained”.