NEW YORK (Court TV) — Rap mogul Sean "Puffy" Combs could breathe a sigh of relief as he walked out of a Manhattan courthouse Friday morning. He was back in his domain. There outside the front door were the bank of cameras, the shouting reporters, the eager fans. These people he knew how to handle.

Gone, if only for another week, was the alien world of the courtroom where others call the shots, where the one-man media phenomenon is known as "the defendant," and where a jury could hand down hard jail time to one of the most famous men in the country.

Combs was scheduled to be immersed in that world Monday when jury selection in his weapons possession and bribery trial was slated to begin. But Judge Charles Solomon postponed the trial until January 17 at the request of attorneys on both sides who said they would use the time to hammer out several evidentiary disputes.

The panel selected will weigh evidence against Combs and co-defendants — his rap protege Jamal "Shyne" Barrow and his bodyguard Anthony "Wolf" Jones — stemming from a December 1999 shooting at Club New York, a nightclub near Times Square.

Barrow is accused of firing three shots into a crowd, and faces attempted murder and assault charges. Prosecutors say Combs, at the club with his girlfriend, singer-actress Jennifer Lopez, flashed a gun during the fracas and then fled the scene in an SUV containing a pair of illegal weapons. He is also charged with trying to bribe his chauffeur into claiming ownership of the guns. Jones faces only weapons charges.

Combs has maintained his innocence, holding press conferences and granting interviews in which he claims he abhors guns and never carries them. Solomon put an end to all that Friday.

As dozens of reporters scribbled in their note books, the judge issued a gag order preventing the lawyers and their clients from talking about the case outside the courtroom. Combs, wearing a robin's-egg blue tie and a serious expression, looked on as the judge said he was concerned the jury pool might be tainted by the coverage.

Gag order or no, Combs emerged from the courthouse into a crush of camera crews jockeying for an angle, reporters begging for a comment and police shouting for order. While his co-defendant Jones left the building through a back entrance unnoticed, Combs walked into the center of the press maelstrom. He paced back and forth in front of the entrance, listened briefly as his attorney asserted his innocence and then headed to the curb for a cab.

Along the way, he spotted Keyla Orozzo, an 18-year-old sporting a red leather jacket and big gold earrings.

"Puffy!" she shouted.

Combs stopped, walked over to Orozzo and gave her a hug. Then, he disappeared into a taxi.

"He gave me a hug like he knows me. You see that?" said Orozzo. "I don't even know him at all."

After his client left, defense attorney Benjamin Brafman stood alongside co-counsel Johnnie Cochran and said he hoped to find an impartial panel despite his client's "superstar" status.

"We're looking for fair and honest people of every color, every race, every ethnic background, and I have no interest in knowing what kind of music they listen to," said Brafman.