| In EDNY Pop Smoke Arraigned
For Transporting Stolen Rolls Royce After
Inner City Press Sought Comment
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Thread Scope
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
FEDERAL
COURTHOUSE, Jan 17 – Bashar
Jackson, a hiphop artist
called Pop Smoke, has been
arrested on charges of
interstate transport of an
allegedly stolen Rolls Royce.
Inner City Press became aware
of the arrest and asked
@POPSMOKE10 on Twitter for any
comment, here.
Now here's from Brooklyn:
Jackson entered a
plea of not guilty to the
indictment. Assistant
USAttorney Gillian Kassner
said he's "believed to be a
member of the 823 G Stone
Crips gang." He was released
on a $250,000 bond and will
return to the EDNY courthouse
on Tuesday with another surety
/ financial responsible person
to sign the bond.
Magistrate Judge
Ramon Reyes, Jr., ordered the
defendant to have no contact
with gang members, or
victim/witnesses. He
faces a maximum of 10 years in
prison if convicted of the
charge.
Here's
from the indictment:
"On or about and
between November 5 , 2019 and
December 3, 2019, both dates
being approximate and
inclusive, within the Eastern
District of New York and
elsewhere, the defendant
BASHAR JACKSON, also known as
"Pop Smoke" and "Quadir
Jerrell," did knowingly and
intentionally transport in
interstate commerce a motor
vehicle, to wit: a black Rolls
Royce Wraith bearing a Vehicle
Identification Number ending
in X87159, knowing said motor
vehicle to have been stolen."
We'll have more, from the U.S.
District Court for the Eastern
District of New York.
In the
SDNY, Daniel Hernandez a/k/a
Tekashi 6ix9ine was sentenced
to 24 months of total
imprisonment on December 18 in
a proceeding live
tweeted by Inner City
Press before U.S. District
Court Judge Paul A.
Engelmayer.
On January
14 his lawyer asked to modify
the sentences or where it will
be served: "moves this Court,
before the Honorable Paul A.
Engelmayer, held at the United
States Courthouse, United
States District Court,
Southern District of New York,
40 Foley Square, New York, New
York, at a date and time to be
set by the Court, for an
order, pursuant to Title 18,
section 3582(c) of the United
States Code, modifying the
term of imprisonment imposed
as part of Hernandez’s
sentence to mandate that the
remainder of Hernandez’s jail
sentence be served under home
confinement, or alternatively,
in a community correctional
facility (hereinafter “CCC”).
BACKGROUND As this Court may
recall, on December 18, 2019,
Judge Engelmayer imposed a
24-month term of imprisonment
as part of Hernandez’s
sentence in connection with
the above-captioned case.
Hernandez’s sentence was
imposed following his guilty
plea to Racketeering, 18
U.S.C. § 1962, and other
related charges, and in
consideration of the
government’s motion pursuant
to U.S.S.G. § 5K1.1 based upon
Hernandez’s “substantial
assistance” to the government.
Hernandez’s extensive
cooperation and extraordinary
assistance to the government
was thoroughly discussed at
his sentencing. Despite the
significant threat to his
music career and his personal
safety, Hernandez first
publicly denounced the Nine
Trey Gansta Bloods and later
testified in a highly
publicized trial that led to
the convictions of two Nine
Trey members. As a result of
Hernandez’s cooperation with
the government against
multiple gang members with the
Bloods, Hernandez’s safety is
still, and will continue to be
for the foreseeable future,
seriouslyat risk.
Additionally, this Court
ordered continued cooperation
with the government as part of
Hernandez’s sentence. Given
the significant and ongoing
threat to Hernandez’s safety
as a result of his past and
potential future cooperation,
the government has filed
papers which force Hernandez
to remain incarcerated at a
private jail in an effort to
secure his safety. However,
even at the private jail,
Hernandez is still housed with
various members of the Bloods.
Moreover, the government’s
actions meant to keep
Hernandez safe also means that
Hernandez will never be
designated to any Bureau of
Prisons facility. So as a
result of Hernandez’s
substantial assistance to the
government in connection with
a dangerous street gang and
his mandated continued
cooperation as part of his
sentence, Hernandez is being
forced to serve the remainder
of his term of imprisonment at
a private jail, not at a
Bureau of Prisons facility.
ANALYSIS
According to Title 18, section
3621(a) of the United States
Code, any defendant sentenced
to a term of imprisonment is
supposed to be committed to
the custody of the Bureau of
Prisons until the defendant is
eligible for early release via
home confinement or a CCC
pursuant to section 3624(c).
Title 18, section 3624(c) of
the United States Code
requires the Bureau of Prisons
to ensure that prisoners
serving a term of imprisonment
spend a portion of the final
months of that term under
conditions that will afford
the prisoner a reasonable
opportunity to adjust to and
prepare for reentry into the
community.
Therefore, any
defendant sentenced to a term
of imprisonment, such as
Hernandez, should be entitled
to serve the final months of
his jail sentence either in
home confinement or in a CCC.
However, given Hernandez’s
safety classification and the
government’s actions which
have forced Hernandez’s
continuous incarceration at
the private jail, Hernandez
has effectively been denied
that which every other
sentenced prison receives,
that being consideration for
home confinement or CCC
placement during the final
months of the prison term. In
other words, Hernandez is
being denied his right to
apply for home confinement
and/or CCC placement, as per
18 U.S.C §3624(c). As
discussed above, due to
Hernandez’s valuable role as a
cooperating government
witness, he is being forced to
serve his 24-month jail
sentence at the private jail,
which is a private facility
that falls outside the scope
of the Bureau of Prisons.
Considering the helpful nature
of his role in the
government’s case, see USA v.
Jones et al, SDNY 18-CR-0834,
his celebrity status, and his
immaculate disciplinary
record, Hernandez would be a
more than satisfactory
candidate for placement in
home confinement, or a CCC.
Yet by placing Hernandez in a
private facility, he is being
stripped of the benefits
granted to all other prisoners
under 18 U.S.C §§ 3621 and
3624(c). Mr. Johnson of the
Federal Bureau of Prisons
Northeast Regional Division’s
Legal Department has informed
me that based on a hold placed
by the United States
Attorney’s Office, Hernandez
will never enter into a Bureau
of Prisons facility. While
this hold was placed as a
safety precaution, its effect
will prevent Hernandez’s
release from a Bureau of
Prisons facility into home
confinement or a CCC. Mr.
Johnson states that unless
Hernandez enters into a Bureau
of Prisons facility, he has no
ability to be considered for
either home confinement or a
CCC. As the court is well
aware, Rolland Martin, a
co-conspirator convicted in
Hernandez’s case, was almost
killed in a Bureau of Prisons
facility, not for cooperating
with the government, but for
merely renouncing his
membership in the gang.
Furthermore, even the private
facility where Hernandez is
currently housed has variety
of Blood members housed at the
facility. Therefore, it is
foreseeable that placement in
any Bureau of Prisons
facility, including any CCC,
would jeopardize Hernandez’s
safety. Accordingly, allowing
Hernandez to serve the
remainder of his jail sentence
under home confinement would
be the most reasonable means
to adjust and prepare for his
re-entry into the community.
Given the sensitive nature of
his testimony as a government
witness and his celebrity
status, my client will have to
take extreme measures for both
the security of himself and
his family for quite possibly
the rest of their lives. If
federal prisoners have a legal
right to transition from jail
into either a CCC or home
confinement prior to the
expiration of their jail
sentences, then defendants who
have provided “substantial
assistance” to the government
should not be deprived of
basic rights to spend the
final months of their term of
imprisonment in home
confinement of a CCC. As a
result of Hernandez’s status
and cooperation, he is
effectively being forced to
serve his prison term in its
entirety without consideration
for early release into home
confinement or a CCC because
he will never enter a Bureau
of Prisons facility. It would
be a grave injustice for
Hernandez to be denied the
reasonable opportunity to
adjust to and prepare for his
re-entry into the community
due to his cooperation with
the government and placement
in a private facility by the
government for safety reasons.
Re-entry into the community is
inherently challenging for
most prisoners and will be
even more challenging for
Hernandez. Due to his
distinctive characteristics
and appearance, the nature of
his role as a government
witness, his severance of ties
with a violent gang and social
status, his transition back
into the community will be
both difficult and high-risk.
The mere fact that Hernandez
is a government cooperator
should not unlawfully strip
him of his rights as a
prisoner to adjust and prepare
for community re-entry.
In order to
adequately adjust and prepare
for such re-entry, while
considering the legal analysis
discussed above, I am
requesting that Hernandez’s
sentence be modified, so as to
grant him the opportunity to
be placed in home confinement
for the remainder of his term
of imprisonment. Hernandez is
seeking an order, pursuant to
18 U.S.C. § 3582(c), to modify
his term of imprisonment to
mandate that the remainder of
Hernandez’s jail sentence be
served under home confinement,
or alternatively, in a CCC.
" We'll have more on
this.
During the
December 18 proceeding a
victim of a Nine Trey gang
shooting spoke about her
injuries. Her letter is on
Patreon here. A man who said
he was Hernandez' biological
father asked to speak but
Judge Engelmayer told him he
was too late.
Inner City
Press' live tweeted thread is
here.
Post-sentencing Periscope
video here.
Hernandez had prepared a
letter to read, but spoke
impromtu first, including
offering to pay for the
shooting victim's medical
treatment. He described
visiting sick children, and
said he wanted to be an
example to kids that they can
do anything.
Judge Engelmayer
said that the 13 months served
to date would not be enough.
He rans through a litany of
Nine Trey's crimes and
emphasized that by the time
Hernandez joined the gang he
was already a national rap
star. He noted the contract he
has signed while incarcerated.
Inner City Press
covered the trial
Hernandez testified at, and
the other sentencings
in the case and will continue
to. The case is US v.
Jones, 18-cr-834
(Engelmayer). More on Patreon
here.
***
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