NBA YoungBoy’s fate was dropped in the hands of a federal jury in Los Angeles Thursday after lawyers on both sides said the case accusing the wildly popular rapper of being a felon in possession of a firearm was “simple.”
Prosecutors said YoungBoy was born Kentrell Gulden and proved his guilt when he led LAPD officers and FBI officers on high-speed chase through Tarzana. He jumped fences and hide in a backyard minutes before an expensive gun was found under the Mercedes Maybach’s floorboard on March 22, 2021.
YoungBoy’s lead defense lawyer, James Manasseh, said his client simply “panicked” when multiple armed officers blindsided him with an aggressive arrest attempt based on a warrant out of Louisiana he didn’t know existed. The lawyer said his client didn’t know the gun was in the car. Gaulden could face a lengthy sentence if he is convicted of one charge, which was being a felon with a firearm.
“This is the most important day of the many important days in Kentrell’s life,”Manasseh made his closing argument to the jury. “This is the most important day in his life, and we trust that you’ll see the case as we see it.”
Manasseh claimed that the government failed in Gaulden’s proof “had knowledge”He either had the gun in his car, or intended to own it. Experts were able to trace DNA and fingerprints from five people including women, but the lawyer denied that any DNA could be used.
“They haven’t put a single witness on that witness stand who can talk about and testify to his knowledge about this firearm. Not a single witness,”Manasseh argued shortly after jurors left the courtroom in order to choose a foreperson for lunch.
Manasseh dismisses Manasseh as “simply”. “not relevant”Gaulden was holding a strikingly comparable firearm when he visited Shyne Jewelers, Pennsylvania two months prior to his arrest. Jurors also saw a separate video in which the rapper waved a similar weapon at a Baton Rouge house shortly after his associate purchased the FNX45. He said the law requires a stronger connection – and for good reason.
“When I came this morning, I got in an Uber from my hotel. My Uber driver didn’t ask me if I had cocaine in my briefcase. But he probably should, if you listen to the government’s theory, because he would be responsible for the cocaine if I left it in his car. That’s not the law. They have to prove Kentrell Gaulden knew that there was a gun there and he intended to possess it,”Manasseh argued.
The lawyer said that the Maybach gun cost $1,350 and was not comparable to Gaulden’s Instagram photo or Shyne photos. He said that the guns shown in the photos were “indistinguishable”The replica Tokyo Marui Airsoft FNX 45 gun sells for $169
Amanda Elbogen, Assistant U.S. Attorney, urged jurors not to misuse their discretion. “common sense.” She said the gun in the car was purchased in YoungBoy’s hometown by someone he knew, and then it was found in a car he owned for less than two weeks.
“I don’t think in the 10 or 12 days that he had this brand new car that he had tons of people using it and hanging out in the back who might have just left a very expensive gun behind. And if you’re a good friend, you wouldn’t leave it in a car for a friend who you know is a felon, either,”She argued.
“We saw him in Baton Rouge right after the gun was purchased with a gun that looks like it,”She spoke in reference to the Instagram video. “I submit to you, if you focus on the evidence in this case, your job will be very simple. You will find the defendant guilty of being a felon in possession.”
Gaulden (22 years old) has stated that he knew that he was a felon when he spent time in Los Angeles last summer. This is because he previously pleaded guilty assault with firearm. He was under house arrest at the time of the trial.
Once this trial ends, the rapper also known as YoungBoy Never Broke Again is facing a similar prosecution in federal court in Louisiana, after he was arrested on weapons charges along with 16 others outside a relative’s home in Baton Rouge. A federal judge in the case upheld a decision that video evidence that was obtained by prosecutors wouldn’t be allowed to be used at trial, as it was obtained under a flawed search warrant.