NEW YORK (AP) — Attorneys for hip-hop producer Sean “Diddy” Combs requested a federal choose in New York on Wednesday to delay his Could 5 sex-trafficking trial by two months to allow them to higher put together a protection.
The legal professionals mentioned in a letter to Decide Arun Subramanian that prosecutors have been gradual to show over some potential proof for overview, making it tough to be prepared in three weeks.
Prosecutors oppose the request, the legal professionals mentioned. A spokesperson for prosecutors declined remark.
Subramanian wrote in an order responding to the delayed-trial request that he’ll tackle the difficulty throughout a listening to scheduled for Friday.
Pending the convention, the choose wrote, either side ought to proceed as if the early Could trial stays in place.
Combs, 55, has been held with out bail since his September arrest. He has pleaded not responsible to a number of crimes that prosecutors say occurred over a two-decade interval.
Of their letter, protection legal professionals cited a failure by prosecutors to show over potential trial proof in a well timed matter, together with supplies regarding a superseding indictment returned by a grand jury earlier this month.
As an illustration, the legal professionals wrote, prosecutors have mentioned they won’t meet a Wednesday deadline to show over displays and a witness listing.
Some proof but to be turned over consists of supplies associated to a depend within the indictment that carries a 15-year obligatory minimal jail sentence if a conviction is secured, the legal professionals mentioned.
Consequently, they wrote: “We can’t, in good conscience, go to trial on the scheduled date.”
They added: “This can be a downside that the federal government has created, but it opposes our affordable request.”
Prosecutors say Combs coerced and abused ladies for years as he used his “energy and status” as a music star to enlist a community of associates and staff to assist him whereas he silenced victims by blackmail and violence, together with kidnapping, arson and bodily beatings.
