Three years ago up and coming New York rapper Pop Smoke, real name Bashar Barakah Jackson, was shot and killed during a home invasion in his Hollywood Hills rental after accidentally showing his address on social media hours earlier.
Yesterday, one of the participants has been sentenced to just four years in a Youth Treatment Center.
A 20-year-old who was charged in the killing of Pop Smoke pleaded guilty in juvenile court Thursday, admitting he entered a Hollywood Hills mansion as a teenager in February 2020 intending to rob the rapper, who was shot to death in a struggle with the home invaders.
The defendant pleaded guilty in an Inglewood courtroom to voluntary manslaughter and home invasion robbery; he was the first to admit guilt of the four defendants.
The man’s name was not released by courts because he was a juvenile when the incident occurred.
Judge J. Christopher Smith sentenced the defendant to four years and two months in the Secure Youth Treatment Facility but warned he could remain in juvenile custody until he was 25.
Three other men were charged in Pop Smoke’s murder – two juvenile defendants, 15 and 17 at the time of the homicide, and Corey Walker, who was 19.
But the defendant who pleaded guilty yesterday was no minor participant in the crime. According to prosecutors, the then 16 year old scouted the mansion, helped Corey Walker recruit the other juveniles to rob Pop Smoke and, after entering the home, remained in “constant communication” with Corey Walker who waited in the getaway car.
In addition, prosecutors obtained a wiretap on his phone, where detectives learned the man who received just 4 years in juvenile detention committed other robberies.
