Hours after Atlanta rapper Gunna was denied bond for a third time, reality star Kim Kardashian took to Twitter to lend her support.
“#FreeGunna,” Kardashian tweeted Thursday night. It’s not the first time she has advocated for the musician since his arrest.
By Friday morning, her post had been liked, retweeted or commented upon nearly 72,000 times.
Gunna, whose real name is Sergio Kitchens, has been in jail since his May arrest. He and fellow rapper Young Thug are among 28 people charged in a sweeping gang indictment. Prosecutors allege the pair lead “Young Slime Life,” which they say is a street gang responsible for much of Atlanta’s violent crime.
The musicians’ lawyers maintain their innocence, saying YSL or “Young Stoner Life” is just the name of Young Thug’s record label.
Kitchens faces one count of conspiring to violate the state’s RICO statute. Others named in the indictment face charges ranging from drug possession and armed robbery to murder.
Of the 28 people charged, 25 have been arrested, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis wrote in a recent court filing.
While those with means have obtained top defense attorneys, at least eight defendants still have no legal counsel. As a result, prosecutors have asked Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville to postpone the trial until late March.
It had been scheduled to begin Jan. 9 and could potentially take months if prosecutors get their way and try all of the defendants simultaneously. Additional motions hearings in the case are scheduled for next month.
Glanville has denied bond for everyone charged in the case, siding with prosecutors who have repeatedly raised concerns about witness intimidation ahead of trial.
“We have evidence that there are members of this organization who have conveyed their willingness to ‘whack’ or kill a person for the defendant,” prosecutor Adriane Love said during Kitchens’ bond hearing.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
His defense team pushed back, asking prosecutors to prove their claims and suggesting the judge had relied too heavily on the state’s word during the bond hearings.
“Once again, it’s vague information, all by virtue of proffer,” attorney Don Samuel told Glanville. “At some point we’re asking you to demand of the prosecution, ‘what is the evidence to hold this man in jail without bond?’”
On Friday, Gunna’s attorneys filed a motion saying the text message in question was actually sent in June 2020 — nearly two years before the charges. They said the text, which wasn’t even sent to Gunna, was not included in the state’s discovery turned over to the defendants.
“Tell gunna happy c day it’s all love [100 and heart emojis] I’ll still a whack some Bout him,” the text read, according to the filing.
Gunna’s defense team said state prosecutors once again misstated its evidence, and in doing so, misled the judge.
“For the State to aver that this text is an offer to commit murder (or to threaten or injure a witness in a case that was still two years in the future) aptly illustrates the problem of a hearing by ambush and proffer,” attorney Steve Sadow wrote.
Kardashian, who studies law and said she’s been working with Gunna’s legal team, said the facts of the case “are yet another example of why the ‘justice system’ is anything but just.”
“Prosecutors alleged witness intimidation yet not a single person has said he threatened them or had anyone else threaten them,” she wrote.
Kardashian is among a growing number of celebrities who have voiced support for the rappers. Many have also criticized Willis’ decision to use their lyrics against them, calling it a violation of their right to free expression.
In a recent interview with The Associated Press, Atlanta-born rapper Lil Baby, who is friends with both Gunna and Young Thug, said the gang indictment has made him think more about his own lyrics.
“I can say something crazy that I never did. I know that,” he said. “But with everything going on, I ain’t going to say that. I’m scared for someone who would try to make something that’s not. I try my best. We’re rappers. We’re used to saying a lot of stuff that’s not true, that didn’t happen. It’s art. It’s your imagination.”
Hip-hop executive Kevin Liles advocated unsuccessfully for Young Thug at a June bond hearing.
“I believe in self-expression and I believe we should protect Black art,” Liles told the judge.
Liles’ online petition calling for an end to rap lyrics being used as evidence had gathered nearly 64,000 signatures as of Friday morning.
California Gov. Gavin Newsome recently signed a bill into law restricting the use of rap lyrics as evidence in court proceedings. And U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson recently partnered with New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman to write a bill limiting an artists’ lyrics or expressions from being used against them in federal cases.
Willis has defended her decision to use lyrics, saying “If you decide to admit your crimes over a beat, I’m going to use it.”
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