The judge overseeing Sean “Diddy” Combs’ case has ordered federal prosecutors to destroy several pages of his handwritten notes. This update comes amid the disgraced mogul facing accusations from five new accusers.
Source: Billboard / Getty
As we previously reported, Diddy’s legal team said federal prosecutors were “outrageous” for obtaining personal notes from his jail cell during a raid.
According to CNN, Combs’ attorneys described the search of his cell as a violation of his constitutional rights.
“The targeted seizure of a pre-trial detainee’s work product and privileged materials – created in preparation for trial – is outrageous government conduct amounting to a substantive due process violation,” his lawyers wrote, asking Judge Arun Subramanian to hold an evidentiary hearing.
The disgraced music mogul’s lawyers first learned that prosecutors possessed his notes from a court filing late Friday night. Prosecutors disclosed in the filing that the notes were obtained during a nationwide pre-planned sweep of Bureau of Prison facilities. Because of information allegedly found in the notes, they suggested that Combs was attempting to influence witnesses ahead of his trial.
During an hour-long hearing on Tuesday, Judge Arun Subramanian ordered federal prosecutors to destroy several pages of Diddy’s handwritten notes.
“The government should not be in possession of the 19 pages,” Subramanian said at the end of the hearing.
The defense also sought to have Combs unshackled during his court appearances, which the judge agreed to, marking the first time he appeared without shackles around his ankles. According to ABC News, Diddy seemed happy to walk in so freely, flashing smiles at people in the courtroom and hugging each of his lawyers.
Defense attorney Marc Agnifilo held a stack of papers during the hearing which were seized from Combs’ cell, pointing out that the rapper “has handwritten the word ‘legal’” on them. Because of this, he argued that every page from the stack is subject to attorney-client privilege.
Prosecutor Christy Slavik disagreed, saying: “Self-labeling something ‘legal’ does not automatically make it subject to the attorney-client privilege.”
They went on to cite Combs’ notes in their argument against granting him bail, saying they left a “strong inference” that Combs had paid off a potential witness. However, in the upcoming hearing on Friday, the judge said he would no longer consider the example when he decides whether to release the Bad Boy founder.
This win for Combs’ legal team comes as several new accusers have come forward to accuse the disgraced music mogul of sexual assaults.
Five alleged victims claim Combs drugged and raped them from 2001 to 2022, according to New York federal court filings reviewed by USA TODAY. The accusers, who filed their legal complaints anonymously, are represented by Texas-based attorney Tony Buzbee, who previously announced that he intends to file lawsuits on behalf of 120 alleged victims.
Buzbee announced the new lawsuits in a statement on Tuesday, saying that his law firm expects “to be filing cases weekly naming Mr. Combs and others as defendants as we continue to gather evidence and prepare the filings.”
A rep for Diddy responded with a statement of their own, calling the lawsuits “shameless publicity stunts.”
“The extortion lawsuit against Mr. Buzbee exposes his barrage of lawsuits against Mr. Combs for what they are: shameless publicity stunts, designed to extract payments from celebrities who fear having lies spread about them, just as lies have been spread about Mr. Combs,” a representative for Combs said in a statement to USA TODAY. “As his legal team has said before, Mr. Combs has full confidence in the facts and the integrity of the judicial process.”
The statement continued: “In court, the truth will prevail: that Mr. Combs never sexually assaulted or trafficked anyone—man or woman, adult or minor.”
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