- Prosecutors took “improper possession” of Sean Combs’ handwritten notes, his attorneys stated Monday.
- The notes have been taken from his jail cell and embody “privileged attorney-client particulars,” they stated.
- His attorneys need an evidentiary listening to, at which prosecutors would clarify what was taken and why.
Legal professionals for Sean “Diddy” Combs on Monday accused the prosecutors in his sex-trafficking case of improperly possessing delicate notes he wrote by hand whereas in jail awaiting trial in Manhattan.
The handwritten notes and different materials from Combs’ cell embody “attorney-client privileged materials,” his attorneys stated in demanding a listening to to find out what was taken and why.
Prosecutors should clarify who licensed “a search of Mr. Combs’ sleeping space, private results, and paperwork” at his federal jail in Brooklyn, his protection staff stated in a letter asking US District Court docket Decide Arun Subramanian to set a right away listening to date.
“The focused seizure of a pre-trial detainee’s work product and privileged supplies — created in preparation for trial — is outrageous authorities conduct amounting to a substantive due course of violation,” his attorneys wrote within the letter, signed by protection lawyer Marc Agnifilo.
Combs has been held in a Brooklyn detention middle since mid-September when he was arrested on a federal indictment alleging he engaged in a decadeslong sample of bodily and sexual violence towards a number of victims, together with at elaborate intercourse events he referred to as “freak offs.”
He has pleaded not responsible to the costs. His attorneys have stated the sexual contact was consensual, and that his accusers have a monetary incentive to lie.
Combs’ attorneys stated in Monday’s letter that they solely realized that federal prosecutors have been in possession of privileged supplies from their shopper’s jail cell late on Friday, throughout an ongoing authorized battle over bail.
Prosecutors referenced the supplies in a 30-page memorandum opposing Combs’ third bid at bail. Their arguments for conserving Combs detained included allegations that the multimillionaire music mogul was attempting to hinder justice by contacting witnesses, together with a girl he hoped would publicly assist him.
The prosecution’s bail memorandum did make point out of “notes from the defendant’s cell” that had been taken from Combs “throughout a pre-planned nationwide sweep of BOP services,” a reference to the federal Bureau of Prisons. Particulars of the handwritten notes have been redacted from the prosecution memo.
Prosecutors assured the protection and the decide that any seized supplies that certified as “probably privileged” have been reviewed by an impartial authorities “filter staff” to take away any attorney-client communications that prosecutors are barred from seeing.
On Monday, Agnifilo countered that prosecutors’ 30-page bail memorandum exhibits the filter staff didn’t do its job.
“The truth is, the Authorities is in possession of privileged materials and are actively utilizing this materials to detain the defendant,” Agnifilo wrote in asking for an evidentiary listening to.
Agnifilo and a spokesman for the US Legal professional’s Workplace didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Combs, his protection staff, and prosecutors are scheduled to return to court docket on Friday for the third spherical of bail arguments. He has supplied his Miami mansion as collateral for a $50 million bail bundle that would come with 24-hour-a-day monitoring and residential confinement on the property.
Two federal judges declined Combs’ earlier bids for bail after prosecutors argued that the prospect of his obstructing justice and the danger to the neighborhood have been too excessive for him to stay free.
