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Combs will be brought to Manhattan federal court from a Brooklyn
jail for a Thursday afternoon appearance before Judge Arun
Subramanian.
The hearing is expected to result in deadlines being set for
lawyers on each side to submit arguments that will establish the
boundaries for a trial that Combs' lawyers want to start in
April or May. Prosecutors have not expressed a preference for
when the trial might occur.
The judge was assigned to the case after another judge recused
himself based on his past associations with lawyers in the case.
Combs, 54, has pleaded not guilty to charges lodged against him
last month. Those charges included racketeering conspiracy and
sex trafficking based on allegations that go back to 2008.
An indictment alleges Combs coerced and abused women for years
with help from a network of associates and employees while
silencing victims through blackmail and violent acts including
kidnapping, arson and physical beatings.
His lawyers have been trying unsuccessfully to get the founder
of Bad Boy Records freed on bail since his Sept. 16 arrest.
Two judges have concluded that Combs is a danger to the
community if he is freed. At a bail hearing three weeks ago, a
judge rejected a $50 million bail package, including home
detention and electronic monitoring, after concluding that Combs
was a threat to tamper with witnesses and obstruct a continuing
investigation.
In an appeal of the bail rulings to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals, lawyers for Combs on Tuesday asked a panel of judges
to reverse the bail findings, saying the proposed bail package
“would plainly stop him from posing a danger to anyone or
contacting any witnesses.”
They urged the appeals court to reject the findings of a
lower-court judge who they said had “endorsed the government’s
exaggerated rhetoric and ordered Mr. Combs detained.”
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