EXCLUSIVE: BOBBY SHMURDA HAS A NEW PLEA DEAL THAT CAN KEEP HIM IN JAIL UP TO 4 YEARS LONGER

BOBBY SHMURDA HAS A NEW PLEA DEAL THAT CAN KEEP HIM IN JAIL UP TO 4 YEARS LONGER

It’s crazy to think that it was three years ago when Bobby Shmurda’s breakthrough hit “Hot N*gga” was sitting on top of Billboard’s charts. He blessed the stage with the likes of Fabolous, Meek Mill, and other rappers of their caliber. His single was remixed by French Montana, Lil Kim, and many other artists. Bottom line: Bobby was the hottest n*gga of 2014!

That quickly came to a halt when Bobby and his whole GS9 crew was arrested at the infamous Quad Studios and hit with a 69-count indictment. The charges range from assault, conspiracy, criminal possession, reckless endangerment, and murder. A few of Bobby’s pals are looking at a 100+ year sentence. Bobby was looking at a seven year deal, but there’s a new plea deal on the table that can extend his sentence up to four years.

Bobby’s girlfriend Kimberly Rousseau was caught in 2015 trying to smuggle a shank into Rikers Island during a visit. The rapper was charged with attempting to promote contraband, and his girlfriend faces the same charge. However, Bobby told Miss2Bees that Kimberly was not his girlfriend in the podcast titled 2 Cents With 2 Bees.

At least Bobby isn’t looking at the same lengthy sentence that his other friends are. We’re hoping for new music soon! #FreeGS9

[via]

BREAKING NEWS: 22-Year-Old Man Held On Rikers Island Without Trial Commits Suicide

22-Year-Old Man Held On Rikers Island Without Trial Commits Suicide

Kalief Browder, a Bronx man who was held for three years on Rikers Island without trial for an alleged robbery in 2010, committed suicide on Saturday (June 6). Taken into police custody at just 16 years old, Browder recounted an experience that included two years of solitary confinement, starvation, and abuse by prison guards and fellow inmates. In a profile published for The New Yorker after his case was dismissed in 2013, Browder discussed the lasting effects his time inside would have.

“People tell me because I have this case against the city I’m all right,” he said. “But I’m not all right. I’m messed up. I know that I might see some money from this case, but that’s not going to help me mentally. I’m mentally scarred right now. That’s how I feel. Because there are certain things that changed about me and they might not go back.”

Kalief Browder: Prison Guards Starved Me

While in solitary confinement, Browder attempted to end his own life on numerous occasions, including an instance in which he tried to use his bedsheets to hang himself from a light fixture in his cell. Upon his release, he attempted to commit suicide again, after just six months of regaining his freedom. After being treated in several psychiatric institutions, Browder hung himself from an air-conditioning cord in his Bronx home. His lawyer, Paul Prestia, echoed his sentiments of the imprisonment having lasting effects.

“I think what caused the suicide was his incarceration and those hundreds and hundreds of nights in solitary confinement, where there were mice crawling up his sheets in that little cell,’ he told the Los Angeles Times. “Being starved, and not being taken to the shower for two weeks at a time … those were direct contributing factors. … That was the pain and sadness that he had to deal with every day, and I think it was too much for him.”

Browder’s case led New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to reform the solitary confinement laws for city inmates, raising the legal age to 21 years old.

NEWS: Rikers Island Guards Charged in Death of Inmate

Rikers Island Guards Charged in Death of Inmate

2 Rikers Island guards have been charged in the beating death of an inmate

According to the NY Daily News, jail guard Brian Coll and former guard Byron Taylorhave been charged in the shooting death of inmate Ronald Spear in 2012. In December 2012, Coll brutally kicked Spear while Taylor restrained him according to prosecutors. Both guards then crafted a story on how Spear was killed. Before being charged, Coll was still an officer at Rikers, while Taylor had left the position. Both men are to be arraigned Wednesday afternoon.

Coll has been charged with with deprivation of civil rights for the beating and obstruction of justice, whilst Taylor has been charged with covering up the beating. Another officer,Anthony Torres pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct justice and filing false reports stemming from the beat down. Spear had been approaching the guards for their failure to give him the proper treatment for his kidney disease. Spears’ autopsy shows that he died from blunt force trauma to the torso and arms. Spears’ family was awarded $2.75 million.

- Ballah-moni Kollie (@Gottadream87)

photo credit: NY Daily News

 [VIA]

NEWS: Bobby Shmurda's Attorney Speaks On Case, Says Bobby's On Rikers Island

Bobby Shmurda's Attorney Speaks On Case, Says Bobby's On Rikers Island

Bobby Shmurda's attorney, Howard Greenberg, speaks on the case against Bobby, revealing that he spent Christmas in prison on Rikers Island.

Since Bobby Shmurda and members of GS9's indictment last week, we haven't gotten much new information about their case, as no news about bail has surfaced. Yesterday, Shmurda's attorney, Howard Greenberg, spoke to The FADER about his client's whereabouts, potential release on bail and the (in his opinion) "bullshit" nature of the charges. Read his interview below.

So where is your client now?

He is on Rikers Island. I'm on my way up there as we're speaking. He was visiting with family today for Christmas Eve. [Note: in a follow up call, Greenberg said he wasn't able to see Pollard on Wednesday because he was busy with another visitor.]

After Pollard was arrested, you said that Epic was working on putting up his $2 million bail. Is there any news on that front?

There is no news. We're just trying to put something else together now.

Can you tell me why you think the NYPD has gone after Bobby?

The government hates rap and the government hates rappers. They construct a narrative and add rationalizations to make it seem true. They recruit guiltless and loveless people to whom truth is meaningless and convince them to say what they want to say. These people are jealous of a brother on the way up.

Do you think the prosecution would try to use any of his lyrics or videos as evidence at trial?

I don't put anything past these guys.

Do you have any thoughts on the text of the indictment? 

I've analyzed the indictment down to the bone. It's just talking. Bobby shouldn't be charged with anything. I have told your colleagues in the media, the indictment is a bunch of bullshit. First 41 pages are just kids talking, in not even english. Bobby isn't charged with anything except talk in the indictment.

The prosecutors have listed two social media posts in the indictment. Recently, police have leaned on social media heavily to prove young New Yorkers guilty of gang activity. Do you think they'll use social media posts at trial? 

Of course. It's just because they don't know how to respect a person.

Any other thoughts?

My guy's rich, he's busy. He's always on tour. He's supposedly leader of this crew, but he's not charged with any violence. Use your head, it doesn't make any sense. I'm not going to let them crucify Bobby Shmurda.

NEWS: Bobby Shmurda’s Attorney Howard Greenberg: “The Government Hates Rap”

 Bobby Shmurda’s Attorney Howard Greenberg: “The Government Hates Rap”

Bobby Shmurda and 14 other members of GS9 were arrested Wednesday (Dec. 17) Outside at Quad Studios in New York City, while 21 weapons were found and seized. The arrests were part of a long-term investigation by the agency and the New York Police Department’s newly created Brooklyn South Violence Reduction Task Force that dates back at least to July, if not longer. Kati Cornell, director of public information for New York’s Special Narcotics Prosecutor stated that “a number of violent incidents as well as narcotics trafficking” were taken into account.

The details from the intensive investigation were detailed in a press release sent out by the office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor for the city of New York. The 15 individuals were indicted on 69 charges in total, including murder, attempted murder, assault, attempted assault, weapons possession, criminal use of a firearm, reckless endangerment, narcotics sales and criminally using drug paraphernalia. Shmurda himself was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, criminally using drug paraphernalia, reckless endangerment and conspiracy in the 2nd and 4th degree. But Howard Greenberg, Bobby Shmurda’s Attorney, thinks his client is being targeted because he’s a young, successful African American rapper.

“Let me give you some context,” Greenberg told XXL over the phone. “The government hates rap and the government hates rappers. They target these guys and construct a narrative around them and then they rationalize the narrative in order to get an indictment. I had said previously, it’s a bunch of bullshit. What they do is they recruit guiltless, loveless people who are truthless that are jealous of brothers on the way up and they get them to implicate them.”

Greenberg argues that the charges are fabricated and the conspiracy charges on Shmurda are baseless.

“I gave the indictment a close read and the first 41 pages [are] just talk,” Greenberg said “It’s street lingo that isn’t even English, which is susceptible to interpretation that’s so broad, it’s unduly vague. In the argument yesterday they said that there were guns in his car; what they didn’t say is that two guns were in a closed container in the possession of somebody else, not Bobby. They misspoke about that to the Supreme Court. In the defense bar we style conspiracy charges as one of the darlings of the prosecutor’s nursery. People of color should be very afraid of these kind of prosecutions. They are selective. They start by aiming at a guy’s lyrics to begin.”

Greenberg continues on to state that the government hates rappers and will even go so far as to break the First Amendment to get an indictment. He adds that the conspiracy charges to his clients—both the Brooklyn MC and Shmurda’s brother Javase Pollard—are “insidious.” Mr. Greenberg expounded that he’s not sure if the “Hot Nigga” rapper is in jail or not but that Epic Records should “stand behind their artist. But then again it is a subdivision of Sony, so you tell me if the have the balls to stand up for their people.”

“My guy is rich, he’s busy, he’s always on tour,” Greenberg added. “He doesn’t have time for this bullshit; it makes no sense. He’s making more money legit than it’s possible to make, it’s crazy. My guys are legit, end of story. Give me a fuckin’ break. But he’s a target.”

Justice James Burke set bail at $2 million for Shmurda and as of Thursday night he hasn’t posted bail. Other defendants named in the indictment were arraigned and sent to Rikers Island, according to The New York Times. All of the defendants pleaded not guilty.

An infographic detailing the need-to-know information on Bobby Shmurda's recent arrest, along with GS9 crew members.

Bobby Shmurda and various GS9 crew members were picked up by police on Wednesday, December 17th, while recording at Quad studios in NYC. At the time, it was unclear just how serious (and how many) charges the were against the burgeoning rapper and his affiliates. Shmurda had been arrested earlier this year, but that was extremely minor in comparison.

Yesterday, after their arraignment, the full list of charges was released, and it did not look good for the phenom rapper. Apparently the charges were accumulated after "a long-term investigation," which is never a good sign. While these things can get a bit complicated, we've broken down the most important bits in a graphic below.

Bobby Shmurda's lawyer has maintained his innocence (as did the rest of the crew), saying, "Does it make sense that he would resort to committing crimes when he has the world in the palm of his hand? It's ridiculous." Nonetheless, how this will affect him or his rap career remains unknown. 

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