{"id":62199,"date":"2022-08-31T22:45:08","date_gmt":"2022-08-31T22:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/rappers-say-prosecutors-guilty-of-double-standard-when-using-their-lyrics-in-courts\/"},"modified":"2022-08-31T22:45:08","modified_gmt":"2022-08-31T22:45:08","slug":"rappers-say-prosecutors-guilty-of-double-standard-when-using-their-lyrics-in-courts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/rappers-say-prosecutors-guilty-of-double-standard-when-using-their-lyrics-in-courts\/","title":{"rendered":"Rappers say prosecutors guilty of double standard when using their lyrics in courts"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n \n Atlanta-area District Attorney Fani Willis is unabashed in using rap lyrics to help prosecute her cases, repeatedly defending the practice in recent months. It’s a tactic hip-hop artists have decried as a racist double standard for years.\n <\/p>\n \n In May, following the arrests of Atlanta’s Young Thug Gunna, a 56-count indictment Willis, who helms the Fulton County prosecutor’s office, included the artists’ lyrics among sweeping that they violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Among those cited were the Thugger lyrics, \u201cI’m prepared to take them down\u201d and \u201cI never killed anybody but I got something to do with that body.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n This week, Willis, who is African American, again said she would be leaning on lyrics in another RICO case prosecuting 26 alleged members of the Drug Rich Gang, who are charged with kidnappings, armed robberies, shootings and high-profile home invasions.\n <\/p>\n \n Among the targeted were singer Mariah Carey, Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Calvin Ridley and Atlanta United goalkeeper Brad Guzan, according to a 220-count indictment.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI think if you decide to admit your crimes over a beat, I’m going to use it,\u201d she said, deflecting criticism. \u201cI’m not targeting anyone, but however, you do not get to commit crimes in my county and then decide to brag on it.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n She added, \u201cI have some legal advice. Don’t confess to crimes on rap lyrics if you do not want them used.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Following the Young Thug and Gunna indictments, Willis flatly told reporters she was a believer in the First Amendment, but nothing in the amendment precludes prosecutors from using lyrics as evidence.\n <\/p>\n \n She’s right, but there is a large contingent of artists, lawyers, professors and politicians working to change that.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThere’s a void in the law and the void allows abuse, and we’ve been trying to fill the void by changing the laws statutorily across the country so that everybody \u2013 which is everybody, and I mean everybody \u2013 gets their right to a fair trial,\u201d said attorney Alex Spiro, who represents rappers including Jay-Z, Meek Mill and 21 Savage.\n <\/p>\n \n Spiro sent a letter this year to the New York Legislature in favor of S7527, colloquially dubbed the \u201crap music on trial\u201d bill. The proposed legislation, which passed the Senate in June but has yet to navigate the state Assembly, would limit \u201cthe admissibility of evidence of a defendant’s creative or artistic expression against such defendant in a criminal proceeding.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
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