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    Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’s Lawyers Argue Seizure of Jail Notes Was Unjust

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    Lawyers for the music mogul objected at a hearing to prosecutors viewing handwritten materials from their client’s cell after a sweep of the Brooklyn jail where he is being held.Sean Combs appeared in a Manhattan courtroom on Tuesday as his lawyers objected to the prosecution’s use of handwritten notes found inside the music mogul’s jail cell, arguing that his rights had been violated when they were turned over to prosecutors.The dispute stemmed from a recent sweep of the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where Mr. Combs has been held since September. Prosecutors cited the notes, which they contend exposed prohibited behavior, in a court filing last week in which they argued Mr. Combs should remain incarcerated until his trial, which is scheduled for May.The text of Mr. Combs’s notes was redacted from the public record. But prosecutors said it showed that he was trying to obstruct their case, by suggesting that he had paid a potential witness to post a statement on social media expressing support for him. Another note, the government said, related to him directing someone to find “dirt” on two alleged victims.Mr. Combs’s lawyers quickly lodged an objection to the prosecution’s possession of the notes, arguing that it was a violation of attorney-client privilege.“This has been a complete institutional failure,” Marc Agnifilo, Mr. Combs’s lead lawyer, said at the hearing.The prosecution has defended its handling of the notes, writing in court papers that the sweep was preplanned and not engineered to target Mr. Combs. The government further said that any recovered material was reviewed by a “filter team” within the U.S. attorney’s office tasked with excluding any privileged materials from prosecutors handling the case.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      in Music

      Prosecutors Say Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Can’t ‘Pay His Way Out of Detention’

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      In a new filing, the government said the music mogul, who has proposed a sizable bail package as part of his bid to be released, should remain incarcerated.Federal prosecutors opposed Sean Combs’s bid for release from jail on Wednesday, asserting that the music mogul should not be allowed to use his wealth to set up a proposed bail release package that would include hiring a private security detail to guard him.Mr. Combs, who is being held in a Brooklyn jail ahead of his trial on racketeering and sex trafficking charges in May, has appealed a court’s decision to deny him bail, which was based in part on a finding that he posed a danger of witness tampering.His lawyers proposed an elaborate system — effectively a private version of house arrest — in which Mr. Combs would be monitored by security staffers at all hours, would have no access to phones or the internet and could only be visited by an approved list of guests. They suggested a bond set at $50 million.In their response to Mr. Combs’s appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the prosecutors pushed back on Mr. Combs’s argument for release.“The District Court rightly rejected Combs’s effort to pay his way out of detention,” the prosecution wrote, “when the record established that no set of conditions could ensure the safety of the community.”The government has accused Mr. Combs, 54, of running a “criminal enterprise” that wielded the mogul’s power in the entertainment industry to commit crimes, including coercing women to engage in sexual activity with male prostitutes in drug-fueled encounters known as freak-offs. Lawyers for Mr. Combs, who has pleaded not guilty, have denied the charges, asserting that any sexual activity involved consenting adults.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      in Television

      Bill Cosby’s Conviction Is Overturned: Read the Court’s Opinion

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      unconditional promise of non-prosecution, and when the defendant relies upon that

      guarantee to the detriment of his constitutional right not to testify, the principle of

      fundamental fairness that undergirds due process of law in our criminal justice system

      demands that the promise be enforced.

      explained in Commonwealth v. Clancy, 192 A.3d 44 (Pa. 2018), prosecutors inhabit three

      distinct and equally critical roles: they are officers of the court, advocates for victims, and

      administrators of justice. Id. at 52. As the Commonwealth’s representatives, prosecutors

      are duty-bound to pursue “equal and impartial justice,” Appeal of Nicely, 18 A. 737, 738

      (Pa. 1889), and “to serve the public interest.” Clancy, 192 A.3d 52. Their obligation is

      “not merely to convict,” but rather to “seek justice within the bounds of the law.”

      Commonwealth v. Starks, 387 A.2d 829, 831 (Pa. 1978).

      For the reasons detailed below, we hold that, when a prosecutor makes an

      Prosecutors are more than mere participants in our criminal justice system. As we

      As an “administrator of justice,” the prosecutor has the power to decide whether to initiate formal criminal proceedings, to select those criminal charges which will be filed against the accused, to negotiate plea bargains, to withdraw charges where appropriate, and, ultimately, to prosecute or dismiss charges at trial. See, e.g., 16 P.S. § 1402(a) (“The district attorney shall sign all bills of indictment and conduct in court all criminal and other prosecutions . . . .”); Pa.R.Crim.P. 507 (establishing the prosecutor’s power to require that police officers seek approval from the district attorney prior to filing criminal complaints); Pa.R.Crim.P. 585 (power to move for nolle prosequi); see also ABA Standards §§ 3-4.2, 3-4.4. The extent of the powers enjoyed by the prosecutor was discussed most eloquently by United States Attorney General (and later Supreme Court Justice) Robert H. Jackson. In his historic address to the nation’s United States Attorneys, gathered in 1940 at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., Jackson observed that “[t]he prosecutor has more control over life, liberty, and reputation than any other person in America. His discretion is tremendous.” Robert H. Jackson, The Federal Prosecutor, 31 AM. INST. CRIM. L. & CRIMINOLOGY 3, 3 (1940). In fact, the prosecutor is afforded such great deference that this Court and the Supreme Court of the United States seldom interfere with a prosecutor’s charging decision. See, e.g., United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683, 693 (1974) (noting that “the Executive Branch has exclusive authority and absolute discretion to decide whether

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