NBA YoungBoy, born Kentrell Gaulden, is no longer facing time in Los Angeles for possessing a firearm as a felon. Rolling Stone’s senior reporter, Nancy Dillon, announced the good news on Friday (July 15) by tweeting, “NBA YoungBoy NOT GUILTY.” The rapper reportedly told the outlet, “I feel great.”
The Louisiana native reportedly had an outstanding warrant when cops pulled him over last March in Los Angeles. After inspecting the vehicle, law enforcement claimed they found an FN .45 pistol and said it belonged to the rapper. The search subsequently led to his arrest, but his attorneys had a rock-solid defense.
YoungBoy’s lawyer James P. Manasseh told the court, “They have no fingerprint evidence to submit to you that indicates that he handled that firearm. They will not have any DNA evidence that they can present to you that will indicate that his DNA is on that firearm.” Manasseh continued, “In fact, what they’re going to show is that there are five different DNA profiles on that gun. So many that they can’t really identify and say whose might have been on it.”
The trial leaned in the rapper’s favor since day one. The judge blocked the prosecutors’ attempt to use his rap lyrics as evidence. YoungBoy’s attorneys cited that his lyrics were irrelevant to the case. “These lyrics are highly prejudicial as they discuss hardcore rap which has been empirically established to be more negatively received than other genres of music. It would be one thing if the music described this arrest. But a song referencing a similar gun well before the gun in the indictment was purchased and another song referencing a jeweler whose relationship with Mr. Gaulden is not in dispute offer very minimal probative value and are substantially outweighed by the prejudice contained within the words of the songs,” his team wrote.
The Baton Rouge lawyers argued, “Even if Mr. Gaulden is familiar with various models of guns and sings about them, it does not mean that he knew this particular gun was secreted on the passenger floor of the Maybach when police attempted to pull his car over to arrest him.”
The LA trial ended victoriously, and some people from his loyal fanbase were there to witness it. The video below shows the sweet moment they found out YoungBoy was not guilty. Now the rapper is preparing for a legal battle in a separate case in Louisiana for allegedly illegally possessing drugs and firearms. Although the trial is delayed, the judge already granted to uphold a key ruling for YoungBoy: Personal videos seized as evidence due to an improper search warrant will be excluded from the trial.