Sex trafficking suspect Sean “Diddy” Combs will not be released on bail, a second judge ruled Wednesday afternoon. His legal team had appealed for his pretrial freedom from “horrific” jail conditions after a judge determined Tuesday that the music mogul should remain detained while awaiting trial.
Combs was arrested Monday night on charges stemming from allegations of years of sexual abuse of women, federal prosecutors said. A federal grand jury indicted Combs on three felony counts: racketeering, sex trafficking and using transportation to engage in prostitution, court documents showed.
U.S. District Judge Andrew Carter said Wednesday the bail package the defense offered was “insufficient,” agreeing with the government that there was “no condition that would assure” Combs would not “obstruct justice” if he were released.
Combs’ legal team also asked the judge whether he would consider a transfer from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn to a facility in Essex County, New Jersey. The judge asked the defense to file on the question of location by Monday.
The judge set the case’s next status hearing for Oct. 9. The defense would not agree to try the case in October.
“The fight continues,” defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo told reporters as he left court Wednesday. “We’re not giving up by a long shot.”
“I’m going to do everything that I can to move his case as quickly as possible,” he continued. “We’re going to fight this case with all of our might until we don’t have to fight any longer.”
A loud sigh was heard in court Wednesday when Combs was denied bail; it was unclear from whom.
His family, including three sons, were in the second row.
Upon entering the room, Combs waved to his family and put his hand on his heart. He looked back at them when he was being taken away after the hearing.
Combs hardly looked at prosecutors as they made their case and mostly looked straight ahead. At times, he shook his head but largely remained stone-faced.
The defense team argued that he fits the profile of a defendant who should not be remanded into pretrial custody.
Agnifilo spoke in court Wednesday about Combs’ respect for the court, pointing to his giving up his passport and selling his plane, adding again that Combs flew to New York in anticipation of the charges and with plans to surrender.
Agnifilo said he presented a bail package that responded to the “strenuous and unusual conditions to address the court’s concern.”
One of the measures he presented included hiring private security to monitor Combs 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The company, Sage Security, would include monitoring by former law enforcement and control who entered Combs’ home. Agnifilo added that Combs would have no phone or internet access and that it would be “virtually impossible” to contact any witnesses.
The government argued that Combs is a threat to the community, based on allegations of violent acts detailed in the indictment, and a flight risk because of his immense wealth.
“The defendant’s behavior illustrates” that the defense team “cannot control their client,” said a government memo filed with the court Wednesday.
U.S. Attorney Emily Johnson told the court Wednesday that “physical and sexual violence” went on for decades and that Combs’ “vast efforts” to cover it up showed his power.
Johnson said there are no conditions for Combs’ release because “he is involving other people.” She added that “there is a massive amount of evidence” and that “the defendant should be detained pending trial.”
In court, prosecutors said there were “dozens of terabytes of data” related to the case, adding that 300 grand jury subpoenas were served. In addition, 20 search warrants were obtained, and a “large number of electronic devices,” including more than 100 seized phones, tablets and iCloud accounts, are being processed by the government.
Also addressed at the hearing was a video obtained by CNN that shows Combs attacking his ex-girlfriend Cassie in an assault she described in a lawsuit she filed against him in November.
Carter called the video “quite disturbing,” and Agnifilo responded that Combs went to rehab after the incident — as did the other person in the video.
Agnifilo said it was a “heartbreaking relationship in many ways.” The judge asked, “What’s love got to do with that?” referring to kicking and punching seen in the video.
Agnifilo said that Combs is not the same person he was then and that “the worst thing he’s done was on videotape.”
Prosecutors highlighted U.S. Magistrate Judge Robyn Tarnofsky’s comments when she denied bail Tuesday, saying Combs’ history of drug abuse and access to weapons make him a danger.
Tarnofsky told Combs his “prior substance abuse and the fact that the alleged violence seems to occur hand in hand with times when you are not necessarily in control of your actions because of that substance abuse” warrant detention.
“Your lawyer asked me to trust you and to trust him, and I don’t know that I think you can trust yourself,” Tarnofsky said.
Prosecutors said that Combs “presents a danger — to victims and others, both through physical violence and through obstructive conduct — and a risk of flight” and that he “must be detained.”
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