NBA YoungBoy Gets Trial Date After Video Evidence Victory: ‘100 Percent Convinced of His Innocence’
YoungBoy Never Broke Again finally has a trial date in his federal firearms case, and his defense is eager to get started, one of his lawyers tells IndieLand.
The rap prodigy is set to face a jury May 16 in Louisiana’s Middle District, the court announced Monday, a little more than a week after a judge handed him a sizable pre-trial victory by suppressing a large cache of video evidence seized in the high-profile case.
“We’re 100 percent convinced of his innocence, and now we have to continue to evaluate our strategy,” defense lawyer Drew Findling tells IndieLand. “The unconstitutionality of law enforcement was clearly evident to the court and resulted in a slew of evidence of being thrown out. We’re looking forward to going to court.”
In her Feb. 24 ruling, U.S. District Court Chief Judge Shelly Dick ruled that video evidence purportedly showing the rapper possessing one or more firearms was found on SD memory cards that were improperly searched by Baton Rouge police when YoungBoy was arrested Sept. 28, 2020, outside his grandfather’s home. The warrant “was invalid on its face,” the judge wrote in her split decision, which denied an additional defense motion seeking to suppress evidence related to firearms seized at the scene.
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The judge said the video warrant was “rendered invalid” because the officer who wrote it included “misleading information,” namely a statement claiming that a “reliable witness” had informed the police that a group of people were brandishing firearms and filming a rap video on Sept. 28, 2020. In reality, the allegation about people brandishing firearms came from an anonymous 911 call on Sept. 28, while the allegation about the “rap video” allegedly was relayed to a senior officer on Sept. 27 by a so-called “reliable source.”
“The whole truth would have included that the tip about the rap video came in on September 27th — not September 28th — which would have negated probable cause to search the SD cards and camera for evidence of who possessed firearms or narcotics on September 28th,” Judge Dick wrote in her ruling.
“It’s always significant to have a motion to suppress granted in whole or in part, and anytime you succeed in the federal system, that type of victory is magnified to an even a greater degree,” Findling says.
Now serving pre-trial house arrest after his release from jail in October, YoungBoy, born Kentrell Gaulden, has pleaded not guilty to charges he was a felon in possession of an unregistered Masterpiece Arms 9 mm and a .45 caliber Glock Model 21 pistol when he was arrested by Baton Rouge police before jurisdiction in the case was transferred to federal officials.
Less than two weeks after he was indicted last March, Gaulden was arrested in Los Angeles and returned to Louisiana.
Gaulden, 22, has been generating plenty of headlines after releasing his new song, “I Hate YoungBoy,” last month. The track takes aim at everyone from Gucci Mane to Lil Durk’s fiancée and has generated more than 17.8 million views since its release last month.
The rapper also earned his first-ever Grammy nomination when his “WusYaName” collaboration with Tyler, The Creator and Ty Dolla Sign was nominated for the Best Melodic Rap Performance award to be handed out next month.
