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.
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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Prosecutors did not reveal the nature of the procedure and the judge has not yet ruled on whether their testimony will be allowed.
