Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial date set for sex crimes charges
Sean "Diddy" Combs' day in court has been marked on the calendar.
Judge Arun Subramanian at a Thursday hearing set a date for Combs' upcoming federal sex crimes trial of May 5, 2025 ? the same day the 2025 Met Gala is set to take place. His legal team had previously requested the trial to begin in April or May of next year.
Prosecutor Emily Johnson told the court the prosecution's case would last at least three weeks. Combs' defense case will last around one week, defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo said.
The hearing comes after Combs' attorneys on Tuesday filed documents to appeal his jail stay, arguing that federal prosecutors' prior reasoning for his detention "was based on speculation."
Did Diddy get bail today?
Combs was arrested at a Manhattan hotel on Sept. 16 and arraigned the following day. He has maintained his innocence, pleading not guilty on all federal criminal charges, despite mounting civil lawsuits over the past year.
Judge Subramanian also said Combs will remain detained pending his latest appeal for bail. The Bad Boy Records founder has been incarcerated in the Special Housing Unit at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center since his September arrest.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York declined to comment on Thursday's hearing.
Sean 'Diddy' Combs makes appeal: Rap mogul requests to get out of jail ahead of federal sex crimes trial
Diddy appears in court for hearing, mom and children show support
Combs, who faces charges of racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution after his arrest last month, and his legal team appeared in court Thursday to meet with Judge Subramanian, who is taking over the case from Judges Robyn Tarnofsky and Andrew L. Carter, both of whom previously denied Combs' $50 million bail proposal.
Wearing tan prison garb, Combs stood and blew kisses toward his family members seated in the courtroom's audience after the hearing ended.
His mother and children ? sons Justin, Christian and Quincy and daughters Chance, D'Lila and Jessie ? attended the hearing, defense lawyer Anthony Ricco said in court. Combs was then led out a side door by members of the U.S. Marshals Service.
Judge weighs in on Diddy's government misconduct claim
Late Wednesday, the rapper's legal team filed a motion for an evidentiary hearing to investigate alleged government misconduct in leaking case evidence to the media. It included a request to impose a "gag order" prohibiting prosecutors and federal agents from disclosing further evidence to the media.
At Thursday's hearing, Johnson called the "gag order" request an attempt to "exclude a damning piece of evidence." She said prosecutors would have no problem affirming their obligations not to disclose confidential evidence to the press, but said the defense should be bound by that as well.
Johnson also raised concerns about Combs' attorney Marc Agnifilo's statement in a September interview with TMZ calling the case a "takedown of a successful Black man." She said the comment amounted to an accusation that the government was "engaging in a racist prosecution."
Judge Subramanian asked Agnifilo to propose an order that would govern public statements by both sides.
Sean 'Diddy' Combs' lawyers accuse government of leaking video of Cassie assault
In the Wednesday motion, Combs' legal team accused the U.S. government of leaking information, including a newly unearthed 2016 video of Combs assaulting former girlfriend Casandra "Cassie" Ventura, which Combs' attorneys say biased the public against the music mogul.
His lawyers requested an evidentiary hearing to investigate alleged government misconduct and for government agencies involved in the case, including Homeland Security Investigations (which led the raids on Combs' homes in March), to reveal communications and records related to alleged "leaks" to media outlets.
Diddy's legal troubles: A timeline of allegations and the rapper's career
Sean 'Diddy' Combs faces new sex abuse claims from over 100 accusers, attorney says
Two weeks after Combs' arrest, Texas-based lawyer Tony Buzbee announced a series of pending civil lawsuits against the Grammy-winning rapper during an Oct. 1 press conference.
His clients, some of whom were minors when the alleged abuse took place, accuse Combs of "violent sexual assault or rape," "facilitated sex with a controlled substance," "dissemination of video recordings" and "sexual abuse of minors," among other offenses.
Combs "emphatically and categorically denies as false and defamatory any claim that he sexually abused anyone, including minors," his lawyer Erica Wolff told USA TODAY in a statement at the time.
Sean 'Diddy' Combs previously lost 2 attempts to be released on bail
Before Combs' latest appeal, the embattled music mogul lost two bids to be released on bail. The first judge, U.S. Magistrate Judge Robyn Tarnofsky, sided with U.S. attorneys' argument that Combs posed a risk if he were to be released for home detention.
After Judge Carter upheld Tarnofsky's Sept. 17 ruling against Combs, Marc Agnifilo, one of Combs' lawyers, vowed to appeal the decision.
"I told Mr. Combs I'm going to try and get his case to trial as quickly as possible," he said outside the courthouse on Sept. 18. "I'm going to try to minimize the amount of time he spends in very very difficult and I believe inhumane housing conditions in the Special Housing Unit of the Metropolitan Detention Facility."
Sean 'Diddy' Combs' mother defends him amid legal troubles
Combs' mother, Janice Smalls Combs , came to her rapper son's defense in an emotional statement released via Janice's attorney, Natlie G. Figgers, on Oct. 6.
"It is heartbreaking to see my son judged not for the truth, but for a narrative created out of lies," Janice said in the statement shared on Instagram. "To bear witness what seems to be like a public lynching of my son before he has had the opportunity to prove his innocence is a pain too unbearable to put into words."
Contributing: Jay Stahl, KiMi Robinson and Naledi Ushe, USA TODAY; Luc Cohen, Reuters.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Diddy trial date set: More court updates