NBA YoungBoy (real name Kentrell Gaulden) has been living on strict house arrest conditions in Utah after being granted bond in his federal gun case last October. The trial started in the Central District of California on Wednesday (July 13) and the 22-year-old rapper scored an early victory.
According to Rolling Stone, lyrics from YoungBoy’s songs “Gunsmoke,” “Life Support” and “Lonely Child” were dismissed from the case after the prosecution tried to use them to connect him to an FN pistol he was reportedly had on him when he was arrested.
“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,” YoungBoy’s legal team argued.
“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 … offer[s] very minimal probative value and [is] substantially outweighed by the prejudice contained within the words of the songs.”
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They continued, “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.”
NBA YoungBoy was arrested in Los Angeles on March 22, 2021 after a short pursuit in his vehicle — and even on foot — until police found him in a neighbor’s backyard.
The Baton Rouge native allegedly had an outstanding warrant against him and police tried to pull him over once he departed from his L.A. home. After searching his car, cops reportedly found an FN .45 pistol, which they tied to being in YB’s possession and subsequently arrested him.
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“They have no fingerprint evidence to submit to you that indicates that he handled that firearm,” YoungBoy’s attorney James P. Manasseh told the court. “They will not have any DNA evidence that they can present to you that will indicate that his DNA is on that firearm.
“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.”
NBA YoungBoy’s federal trial is expected to last four days. He still faces a separate gun case in Louisiana.
