New York, NY - Diddy‘s sex trafficking trial is set to begin today (May 5) with jury selection.
The Bad Boy Records founder has been held at Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since he was first arrested last September last year after being denied bail on multiple occasions.
Jury selection for the highly-publicized case is expected to last around a week with opening statements tentatively scheduled for May 12.
It is then thought that the actual trial will last for between eight to ten weeks
Diddy has pleaded not guilty to all counts and has repeatedly insisted that all sexual activity was consensual.
Diddy recently won the right to dress as he pleases in court.
Rather than wear prison overalls, the record executive petitioned the court to be allowed to wear a suit throughout the trial.
Per court documents, Diddy has been granted permission to have five button-down shirts, five pairs of pants, five sweaters, five pairs of socks and two pairs of shoes without laces to wear to court.
During the various hearings Diddy has been forced to attend in the lead up to the trial, the record executive has been seen wearing his prison uniform.
Diddy also turned down a plea deal from the government in favor of taking his case to trial.
During a recent hearing, Diddy was asked by the judge if he had rejected a plea deal from prosecutors with the rapper and producer replying: “Yes, I did.”
He also accepted that the decision could lead to a lengthier prison sentence if he was found guilty by the jury. It was not revealed what the terms of the offer were.
Diddy has claimed that he simply goes by the swinger lifestyle as he defends himself from sex trafficking accusations.
His lawyer Marc Agnifilo said: “There’s a lifestyle, call it swingers or whatever you will, that he thought was appropriate because it was common. Many people think it’s appropriate because it’s common.”
Prosecutors also lobbied the judge to allow them to use the testimony of an alleged victim who claims they underwent a “medical procedure” that has a connection to the sex trafficking allegations.
Prosecutors did not reveal the nature of the procedure and the judge has not yet ruled on whether their testimony will be allowed.
NEWS
Brad Paisley has called Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding “one of the least pretentious weddings he’s ever seen”.
The country star attended the ceremony alongside his actress wife, Kimberly Williams-Paisley. They joined around 1,000 guests at New York City’s Madison Square Garden earlier this month as the global pop icon married the American football star.
Although the celebration attracted enormous attention and involved tight security and a stunning makeover of the famous arena, Paisley said the occasion never came across as excessive.
“Ironically, (it) was one of the least pretentious weddings that I've ever seen or ever will see,” Paisley told The Associated Press during an interview. “It meant a lot to be (invited). It was, kind of, a big thank you from her to invite us.”
Paisley, who chose Swift as an opening performer for his tour when she was a teenager in 2007, said he was delighted to be included in what many considered the biggest celebrity wedding of the year.
“They were very clear with the invite, and I took this personally when I got the invite, because in the invite, it said, ‘If you're getting this, you mean a lot to us,’” he revealed.
The musician also explained that guests were not told the wedding’s exact location until the date drew nearer.
“It was really fun to watch the cat and mouse game of, like, ‘We can tell you roughly where it's going to be, we're not gonna say what building... and here's the date. If you're in, we'll tell you more,’” he continued. “I went to my wife, I said, ‘Want to go?’ and she said, ‘Absolutely, we gotta be there!’ So, we did it, it was RSVP yes.”
Other famous attendees included Brad Pitt, Gigi Hadid, Bradley Cooper, Ed Sheeran, Sabrina Carpenter, Hugh Grant, Haim and Tom Hanks.
