Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs due in court in dispute over NY jail cell search

By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Sean “Diddy” Combs is due to appear in court on Tuesday for a hearing over how prosecutors came to possess his handwritten notes following a search of the jail cell where the rapper and producer is being held ahead of his sex trafficking trial.

Lawyers for Combs, who has pleaded not guilty, wrote in a Monday court filing that the notes concerned defense witnesses and strategies, and were subject to attorney-client privilege, a legal doctrine that safeguards confidential communications between lawyers and their clients. 

The defense lawyers called the seizure of the notes a violation of Combs’ right to a fair trial and the protection against self-incrimination and unreasonable searches and seizures under the U.S. Constitution.

Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan said the notes discussed Combs paying a potential witness, demonstrating he was trying to obstruct justice. Prosecutors said an investigator took photos of the notes during a broad, pre-planned search on Oct. 28 by various federal agencies of the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

This investigation could lead to more charges against Combs, making the photographs fair game as evidence, according to prosecutors.

Combs is due to appear at 3 p.m. EDT (2000 GMT) before U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian in Manhattan. 

Combs, 55, was arrested in September on charges accusing him of using his business empire including record label Bad Boy Entertainment to transport women and male sex workers across state lines to take part in recorded performances called “Freak Offs.” 

The music mogul is scheduled to go on trial starting on May 5 on three felony counts: racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prosecution. Combs’ lawyers have said the sexual activity described in the indictment was consensual. 

Separately, Combs is seeking to be released on $50 million bail backed by his $48 million Florida mansion and co-signed by several family members. He has been denied bail three times, with multiple judges citing a risk that he might tamper with witnesses. 

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Will Dunham)