Formerly one of the biggest music producers on the planet, Sean “Diddy” Combs has spent three of the final four months of 2024 behind bars at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, which is where he “celebrated” Thanksgiving holidays. His legal team has attempted several times to get him out on bail, but those attempts have been unsuccessful to date, and now the lawyers have filed an official request tied to complaints about laptop usage.
New paperwork was filed in New York on Wednesday, December 4, requesting that Judge Arun Subramanian provide Diddy with a government-prepared laptop that he would be able to use with the same availability and frequency as other inmates. The rapper’s lawyers point to the notion that the MDC gave notice of a laptop that was specifically set up for Combs to use to review discovery and organize his notes and other documents in order to help his case.
However, the attorneys claim that he never received said laptop in the nine days since its existence was first reported, despite repeated attempts to secure it, as well as several inquiries seeking more information. When the MDC counsel did respond to the inquiries prior to the latest request filing, the lawyers wrote that two firm restrictions were noted in regards to Combs’ laptop usage. Here's how it's stated in the filing (via Deadline):
- 1. "He will only be provided with the laptop in the unit’s video-teleconference room during select times when legal staff is available and when that room is not otherwise being used during other inmates’ legal calls"
- 2. "He will only be provided with the laptop in the legal visiting room between the hours of 8-3:30pm. But, not both."
The argument is then presented that other inmates in Combs' unit at the MDC are not required to follow those same restrictions, and that those disctinctions force their client to choose between using the laptop or meeting with his legal team. They claim there's no legal justification for the stipulations, arguing that none of the information supposedly on the laptop is meant to be solely for attorneys' eyes, and doesn't hold any information that would threaten the lives and safety of any victims or witnesses tied to the impending trial.
While acknowledging that Diddy isn't allowed to share such discovery details with anyone else, the lawyers argue that there's no reason to suspect that he would. As well, they point to the recent hearing held addressing concerns over Diddy's. handwritten legal notes falling into the hands of the prosecution, and say that their client's need for his own laptop is all the more important.
In closing, Diddy's lawyers then claim that the prosection has been given access to information about Diddy's visitation forms that detail who he's been meeting with and when. As it was filed:
In addition, last night, defense counsel learned that the MDC has been providing the prosecution team – and not via the filter team – copies of MDC attorney visitation forms. Who Mr. Combs meets with in connection with his legal defense – including potential experts and investigators – is potentially privileged. Even if not privileged, this level of surveillance offends due process and hampers his ability to prepare his defense.
The prosecution also filed paperwork on December 4 to get confirmation on the record that no one involved had any responsibility for the leaked 2016 video footage of Sean Combs assaulting then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura in a Los Angeles hotel, nor any other materials or information gleaned.
New details are still being revealed about the celebrity-filled freak off parties that Diddy held for many years throughout his heights of fame, to the point where his team has been unsuccessful in trying to sell a house used for those parties.
Diddy, whose third attempt at bail was denied, is set for a criminal trial to start on May 5, 2025, where he could be sentenced to a life in prison if convicted.
