sentencing
Kodak Black is challenging his three-and-a-half-year prison sentence for lying in order to purchase firearms, as he claims that he was sentenced under the guidelines for a convicted criminal, which he technically is not. In the appeal papers filed on February 12th, Kodak has argued that the judge who ordered his sentencing made the mistake of using what he contends to be the wrong sentencing guidelines. Kodak believe that the guidelines that the judge abided by to sentence him were reserved for convicted felons; however, Kodak avoided this label when he pled “no contest” in a previous case, thus his lawyers note that these specific, harsher guidelines shouldn’t have applied to him in the sentencing for this case.
The previous case for which Kodak pled “no contest” involved strong-arm robbery charges in Florida. Due to his plea, the courts declined to convict him, which allowed him to keep his civil rights and made him eligible to have the case sealed. Since he was never convicted in this case, then, he shouldn’t have been sentenced under the guidelines for convicts.
His current case occurred last fall when he was charges for making a false statement in the acquisition of a firearm after he tried to purchase a semiautomatic weapon from a firearms dealer. Kodak took a plea deal and was sentenced to 42 months in federal prison and three years probation. He has since spoken out about the inhumane treatment to which he and other inmates have been subjected, even alleging that he was locked in a bathroom on one occasion and drugged by guards on another.
The trial of Tekashi 6ix9ine may have come to an end but there are a few defendants in the case who are aiming to overturn their conviction. Among them is Anthony “Harv” Ellison who was convicted of kidnapping 6ix9ine in 2018, among other charges. He’s demanded that the court throw out the guilty verdict alleging 6ix9ine’s testimony was filled with lies over the three days he took the stand, especially when it came down to his time with Nine Trey as well as the kidnapping itself.
According to PageSix, the judge has shot down Ellison’s attempt at having the conviction overturned. The Manhattan judge wrote to Ellison that the jurors believed the testimony made by Tekashi during the trial.
“The evidence of Ellison’s commission of this crime was overwhelming,” the judge began. “Ellison’s argument as to Hernandez’s ostensible lack of credibility on the kidnapping count is particularly unpersuasive,” the judge continued.
Ellison’s theory that he had colluded with Hernandez to stage a fake kidnapping was unsupported by any evidence at trial,” the judge wrote. “And Ellison, who was in a position to attest as to his circumstances surrounding that incident — including, if true, that it was a staged, and not actual, kidnapping — elected not to testify.”
Ellison’s sentencing is set for February 26th. We will keep you updated on any news pertaining to Ellison’s court date.