ATLANTA — Attorneys representing Gunna, whose legal name is Sergio Kitchens, want the judge to reconsider denying the rapper bond. In court documents filed Monday, Kitchen's attorney argued the rapper should be allowed to post bond because the Fulton County District Attorney dropped the most series charge against him last month.
Kitchens is among over two dozen people indicted in the Fulton County RICO case involving ties to Young Slime Life. Prosecutors allege YSL is a gang behind several crimes in the Atlanta area.
Defense attorneys say there’s no evidence of that and accuse prosecutors of using artists’ lyrics against them.
11Alive spoke with a former Fulton County assistant district attorney, Darryl Cohen, about the latest bond motion for Gunna.
"If a judge is concerned that someone may be harmed or threatened, or intimidated as a result of. Got her being released on bond. That judge will in all likelihood say no bond. And a judge does not really have to give his or her feelings as to why they can just make they hear the motion, they decide and make a decision," he told 11Alive.
A statement sent to 11Alive from Kitchens' attorney, Steve Sadow, said the following.
"Sergio Kitchens (Gunna) is very hopeful that the Court will now recognize that the discovery provided by the prosecution fails to show his pretrial release poses a significant risk of danger to any person or the community or poses a significant threat to witnesses, and accordingly will grant a reasonable bond.”
Review of Gunna's case
- Gunna's charges are not as extensive as Young Thug's: He officially only faces one count of conspiracy to violate RICO - essentially, being a gang member. The sprawling 88-page indictment only mentions Gunna - legal name Sergio Kitchens - a few times, most of them using his social media posts or song lyrics as evidence of gang membership.
- His more concrete allegations include Theft by receiving stolen property (a gun), possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, possession of hydrocodone with intent to distribute and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. These are alleged acts "of racketeering activity, and an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy" and qualify him for the felony offense of "participation in criminal street gang activity."
- One other allegation: He is alleged to have been involved in a traffic stop incident with Young Thug in 2018, in which two cars were stopped, and four individuals in one of the cars were "armed with numerous weapons with high capacity magazines to include an AK-47 with a 30-round magazine."
The case is still set for some time in January 2023, the judge reiterated on Thursday but said he would finish seeing motions and that attorneys still needed to be assigned for many of those accused.