Comment on Third judge denies bail for Sean 'Diddy' Combs

Sean "Diddy" Combs speaks at press conference in 2007, announcing an alliance with Ciroc Vodka in New York.Stan Honda/AFP via Getty ImagesCombs had hoped a Manhattan judge would approve home-detention in a rented Manhattan brownstone.This bail request was Combs' 3rd attempt to be freed pending his May 5 sex-trafficking trial.Three judges have now ruled Combs posed too high a risk of violence and obstructing justice.A federal judge in Manhattan on Wednesday night denied the third and likely last bid by Sean "Diddy" Combs to be freed on home confinement pending his May 5 trial date on sex trafficking and racketeering charges."No condition or combination of conditions will reasonably assure the safety of the community," including witnesses and prospective jurors, if Combs were released, wrote US District Judge Arun Subramanian."The indictment charges Combs with serious and violent crimes," the judge wrote in an 11-page bail denial that quotes extensively from the allegations in denying bail."It alleges that "[f]or decades," Combs 'abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct,'" the judge quoted the indictment saying.The judge also made reference to the notorious hotel hallway-sureveillance video showing Combs beating ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura, saying it is "direct evidence of Combs' violence."Also weighing against bail is evidence gathered by federal prosecutors "supporting a serious risk of witness tampering," the judge wrote.Combs deleted a series of texts he sent to a key grand jury witness in the days before and after the witness testified before a grand jury in July, the judge wrote.This witness, identified only as "Witness 1," is a male sex worker who had participated in "freak offs," elaborate, days-long sex parties that Combs allegedly coerced his victims into joining, according to other court filings.Even during his more than two months in jail, Combs continued to try to influence witnesses and prospective jurors, at times through unauthorized three-way calls or by paying other inmates to use their phone access, the judge wrote."His willingness to skirt BOP rules in a way that would make it more difficult for his communications to be monitored is strong evidence that the Court cannot be reasonably assured as to the sufficiency of any conditions of release," the judge wrote, using the acronym for the federal Bureau of Prisons.It's especially troubling, the judge added, that Combs tried to skirt BOP regulations while he was seeking bail, "and when he knew the government's concerns about witness tampering and obstruction were front and center."In September, two other judges — a magistrate judge, and Combs' previous case judge — had rejected bail out of similar concerns over violence and potential witness tampering.Combs had hoped his home for the next eight or so months — as he awaited and then submitted to a federal sex-trafficking trial — would be a four-bedroom, single-family Manhattan brownstone, said a source involved in the bail planning who asked for anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.The home would have had space for a defense command center and for several family members to live there too, the source said.Combs was prepared to post a bail bond for $50 million, collateralized by his Miami mansion.