With family and friends nearby, Combs was sitting there Friday unshackled in the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Courthouse. The notoriously self-promoting rapper was denied bail twice before in quick succession by other judges just after his arrest on sex trafficking and other charges two months ago.

Lawyers for Sean “Diddy” Combs on Friday pleaded with a judge to release him from jail, arguing the embattled music producer is not the danger to the community that prosecutors allege he is.