NEW YORK (AP) Prosecutors were instructed by a federal judge on Tuesday to refrain from using documents recovered from Sean Diddy Combs’ detention cell until he rules on defense claims that they are attorney-client privilege-protected trial preparation materials.
After attorneys vehemently contested the facts and significance of the seizure of 19 pages that an investigator had photographed inside the music mogul’s cell, Judge Arun Subramanian rendered his decision during a federal court session in Manhattan.
Accused of coercing and abusing women for years with the help of a network of associates and workers, Combs has entered a not guilty plea to all allegations.
As an anti-violence action, the authorities has portrayed the seizure as part of a multi-day sweep of all cells at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, with the goal of removing any weapons or contraband.
If the judge determines that the papers were obtained and utilized inappropriately, defense attorney Marc Agnifilo said he may request that the indictment be dismissed or that the prosecutors be forced to recuse themselves.
Upon entering the courtroom, Combs embraced his attorneys, and at the conclusion of the hearing, he was escorted out with a pile of documents.
Agnifilo claimed that until he saw the documents in Combs’ cell mentioned in written arguments against his $50 million bail application, he was not aware that they had been photographed by a Bureau of Prisons investigator and given to prosecutors. On Friday, there will be a bail hearing.
As prosecutors contended that Combs has persisted in committing crimes since his detention in September, he stated two allusions to the documents were made.
According to the prosecution, Combs tried to publicly leak materials he believed would support his case, contacted possible witnesses through third parties, and planned social media campaigns to sway the jury pool.
The seized documents were examined by independent government attorneys who are isolated from the prosecution to see if they were shielded by attorney-client privilege, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Slavik.
According to her, some of them were thought to relate to a secret and ongoing investigation of Combs, so they were not discussed with defense attorneys.
Additionally, according to Slavik, prosecutors did not communicate with jail staff in advance and did not provide any guidance on any search of Combs’ cell.
According to Slavik, two excerpts dealt with Combs paying and discovering harmful information about possible witnesses, while other pages had a to-do list, motivational quotes, and remarks about birthdays.
However, according to Agnifilo, attorney-client privilege protects even seemingly irrelevant information. For example, he said, lawyers have talked to Combs about potential witnesses they could call.
Because Combs discussed the confiscated documents with attorneys, everything in them is protected by attorney-client privilege, according to Agnifilo.
He noted that the government now has a list of possible defense witnesses for a trial scheduled for May 5. The government has failed miserably in this regard.
In the upcoming weeks, the judge requested written arguments from both sides.
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