Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs rejects the advocacy agreement before the trial on sexual trafficking

Sean “Diddy” Combs officially rejected the US government’s offer to plead guilty and withdraw the possibility of prolonged prison sentence.

The musician appeared in court on Thursday, wearing glasses and a beige prison uniform, before his trial on sex traffic next week. He seemed in a good mood and made a sign of the gallery when he arrived.

Questioned by judge Arun Subramanian if he rejected the agreement on the plea of ​​prosecutors, Combs replied: “Yes, I do it, your honor. Thank you.”

The 55-year-old man faces accusations of sexual traffic and prostitution who allege women in prolonged sexual orgies he called “freak-offs”. He denied all the accusations against him.

If he is found guilty, Combs could spend the rest of his life in prison.

During a recent audience, his lawyer Marc Agnifilo offered a glimpse of the defense of the star, saying that the rapper had led the “lifestyle” of a “swinger”.

AGINFILO argued that if some people can find this inappropriate behavior, it is not criminal.

The selection of the jury in the long -awaited trial begins Monday – with coincidence the same day as the Met Gala, the sparkling charitable event where Combs was once a pillar.

The process took place earlier this week, because potential jurors have received questionnaires to discover what they already know about the case, part of an effort to find 12 people (and six alternates) who can be impartial, despite intense media coverage of the case so far.

Prosecutors and the defense aim to project up to 150 people before opening statements on May 12.

The trial should last at least eight weeks, with the former Combs partner, Cassandra Ventura, among those who should testify.

Ventura, a R&B singer known as Cassie, continued her gangs in November 2023, accusing her of rape and physical violence in series during their decade and romantic relationship of a decade, which he denied.

She set the case just one day after continuing – but CNN then broadcast surveillance images showing striking, hitting and dragging Ventura in the hall of a Californian hotel.

Combs lawyers had tried to have the images of the trial reject, arguing that it had been accelerated and that the events were presented in the sequence – although they did not refuse the behavior of their customers.

However, judge Subramanian judged last week that the images could be admitted.

Since his arrest in September, Combs has been imprisoned in Brooklyn – far from the residences of Miami and Los Angeles where he lived, but about an hour from the Harlem district where he was born.

During the preliminary hearings, he looks older and thinner than his previous Playboy Persona. His hair and beard have become gray, because the hair dye is not allowed in the notoriously dilapidated detention center, where he is held in a special protection unit.

For its trial, however, the hip-hop magnate received a special authorization to wear “non-prison clothes”, with occasional business outfit replacing its tanning prison combination.

According to a court order, Combs will be “authorized to have up to five buttoned shirts, up to five pants pants, up to five sweaters, up to five pairs of socks and up to two pairs of shoes without laces to wear in court”.

Defenders are often authorized to wear their own clothes during a trial, as prison outfits could subliminally influence the decision of a jury.