Younger Thug is presently enmeshed in a RICO case alleging that his rap group Younger Stoner Life (YSL) is definitely working as a prison gang. You’d anticipate such a weighty accusation to return with some equally weighty proof: crime scene sketches, detailed cash trails, and the like. Oddly sufficient, a sizeable quantity of the proof may be discovered on YouTube. Treating rap lyrics and movies like confessions may fly in Georgia, however Texas simply issued a reasonably sturdy opinion nixing that apply within the bud. From the ABA Journal:
A trial choose shouldn’t have allowed prosecutors to introduce an accused getaway driver’s rap movies at trial in an effort to point out that he was extra subtle than he claimed to be, the highest prison court docket in Texas has dominated.
In a Could 8 opinion, the Texas Courtroom of Prison Appeals reversed the capital homicide conviction of Larry Jean Hart…Prosecutors launched the rap movies to point out Hart’s “stage of sophistication” and his skill to know what individuals are speaking.
Hart testified in the course of the trial that one of many movies provided as proof had nothing to do with the case at hand. Prosecutors tried to pin him with lyrics from one other video, however Hart responded that another person wrote the lyrics. This isn’t unusual in rap — ghostwriters have written lyrics, typically whole songs, for rappers. Generally they get credit score, typically they don’t. This could reduce towards the prosecutorial impulse to make use of a rapper’s lyrics towards them in court docket — they’re hardly the biographical proof of crime you’re making them out to be if the particular person saying it didn’t truly pen it, no? Texas’s excessive court docket goes on to elaborate why using rap in court docket circumstances may be extremely prejudicial:
Rap usually makes use of exaggeration and braggadocio, the court docket mentioned. Neither is it the one music style that makes use of exaggeration.
“Aside from Taylor Swift, who is thought to jot down songs primarily based on her private experiences, it’s not cheap to imagine that every one lyrics are autobiographical as to previous or future conduct, except there may be direct proof to recommend in any other case,” the court docket mentioned.
“Holding tune lyrics to their literal which means would result in the next conclusions: Freddie Mercury ‘killed a person;’ Bob Marley ‘shot the sheriff;’ Macy Grey ‘dedicated homicide and … obtained away;’ the band previously generally known as the Dixie Chicks killed Earl; and classically, Johnny Money ‘shot a person simply to observe him die.’”
Will this determination be a significant boon to Thug’s camp? In all probability not, since Georgia and Texas stopped being circuit mates in Eighties, but it surely ought to give some hope to artists in Texas that their creativity gained’t be unduly used towards them within the court docket of regulation. Until your identify is Taylor Swift. It appears the Texas Courtroom of Prison Appeals thinks her lyrics are truthful sport.
Accused Getaway Driver, AKA ‘Block Da Foo Foo,’ Was Prejudiced By Rap Video Evidence, Texas Court Says [ABA Journal]
Earlier: I Don’t Think People Understand How Silly It Is To Use Song Lyrics As Evidence
Desperate For Evidence, Prosecutors Will Use Young Thug Lyrics In Trial
Chris Williams turned a social media supervisor and assistant editor for Above the Legislation in June 2021. Previous to becoming a member of the workers, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ within the Fb group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s. He endured Missouri lengthy sufficient to graduate from Washington College in St. Louis Faculty of Legislation. He’s a former boatbuilder who can not swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for biking that sometimes annoys his friends. You may attain him by e mail at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.
