Chart-top 22-year-old rapper Youngboy Neverbreak Again and Kentrell D. Golden were acquitted on Friday for possessing firearms and ammunition as ferons, and the two he faced. Finished one of the federal gun trials.
The Los Angeles jury reached the verdict about two hours after the second day of deliberation. Known to fans as NBA YoungBoy or YB, Gaulden faced up to 10 years in prison in this case.
The alleged gun possession in California stems from the arrest of a young boy in the Los Angeles area in March 2021 on a federal gun possession warrant separate from the previous case in Rapper’s hometown of Louisiana. .. In September 2020, YoungBoy was one of 16 people accused of possessing guns and drugs during a video shoot at Baton Rouge. His lawyer said he didn’t own any of the contraband.
Prosecutors in the Central District of California said the Youngboy seemed to be initially cooperating when trying to enforce the warrant in that case, pulling Mercedes Maybach and then taking off again, leading the officer to “fast pursuit”. .. After the rapper escaped on foot, police found an FNX.45 caliber pistol and ammunition behind the passenger seat with cash and jewels.
YoungBoy’s lawyer claimed that Rapper was unaware of his excellent federal warrant at the time and panicked and took him off when an armed police officer approached his car. He didn’t know the weapon was in the car, they said, and the fingerprints and DNA available didn’t tie YoungBoy to the gun.
According to court records, the prosecutor used photos and videos from YoungBoy’s social media dealing with “gold and yellow-brown guns that look like firearms recovered from his car,” a wrapper. Was trying to link to a weapon. They claimed that the photo was taken at the same Philadelphia store that also sold jewelry in the car to Young Boys. Rapper’s lawyer said the gun was identical to a replica of an airsoft gun and could not be identified as the same weapon.
“We believe the evidence presented in this case supports the accusations filed by the grand jury,” Ciaran McEvoy, a spokesman for the US law firm in Los Angeles, said in a statement. “We are disappointed with the verdict, but we respect the jury’s decision.”
When the trial began on Tuesday, the judge in the case, R. Gary Klausner, decided to exclude the lyrics of YoungBoy’s three songs from being used in court. Prosecutors said the “Gun Smoke,” “Life Support,” and “Lonely Child” trucks refer to individuals involved with “gun buyers, gun models found in his car, and jewelry makers found jewelry.” I am. ” Next to the gun. “
However, the rapper’s lawyer argued that the lyrics of the “hardcore” and “very inflammatory” raps were disadvantageous and not directly related, and the FN pistol before the FN guns seized from Maibach were purchased. Said that the song mentioned in was released.
“It’s for entertainment,” they wrote in court documents. “It’s not an endorsement of other bad deeds, but it portrays the rapper in a bad light, and the jury speculates from the song that Mr. Golden is a violent person and discusses those feelings with them. Bring it into the room. “
The rapper’s lawyer added: “The real question is 1) whether you know the gun is in the car, 2) whether you intend to own it. It’s a relatively simple case.”
Known for its raw reality rap, prolific output, and enthusiastic online fan base, YoungBoy is one of the most streamed artists in the United States to date this year, competing with Drake and Taylor Swift. .. Since signing a $ 2 million deal with Atlantic Records in 2016, he’s been at the top of Billboard’s album charts frequently, number one with four releases in less than two years, but mainstream. It continues to exist outside the entertainment business. Ongoing legal issues.
In 2017, YoungBoy pleaded guilty to exacerbation of firearm assault 10 years in prison suspended, And probation stems from his role in non-fatal drive-by shooting, where he was first charged with a first-class attempted murder. In 2019, Rapper was sentenced to 90 days in prison following subsequent arrests, including a domestic violence case in which he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor.
Since October, when he was given a $ 500,000 deposit in the federal gun case, YoungBoy has lived under house arrest in Utah and has been recording and releasing music.
YoungBoy’s additional federal gun incident in Louisiana is underway. His lawyer claimed he was unfairly targeted and emphasized the name of one of its businesses, law enforcement agencies. The rapper’s legal team successfully suppressed the video evidence if it said it was unconstitutionally obtained.
According to his lawyer, the arrest of the rapper in Los Angeles last year was “a large and highly unnecessary indication of militaristic power and intimidation.”
