Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs has been denied the chance to have his trial delayed.
The 55-year-old musician has been behind bars since September last year after he was arrested in New York and charged with sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution.
He is due to stand trial in May and has already pleaded not guilty to the charges held against him and has vehemently denied any wrongdoing.
He had appealed to a judge to allow the highly anticipated trial to be delayed by two months to give his team more time to prepare – but now a judge has rejected this idea.
Us Weekly reported that Judge Arun Subramanian rejected the defence team’s request to push back the trial’s start date on Friday.
The trial will, therefore, begin as planned on Monday 5 May – with a jury selection set to begin on that date ahead of opening statements being made on Monday 12 May.
Combs has furiously denied the allegations made against him – and his attorney, Marc Agnifilo, has long urged those with an interest in the trial to wait for the evidence to be heard and a ruling to be made before passing judgment.
Us Weekly quoted Agnifilo previously telling them that the music star was “an imperfect person” but “not a criminal.”
He added, “Please reserve your judgment until you have all the facts. These are the acts of an innocent man with nothing to hide, and he looks forward to clearing his name in court.”
