Courts

Looks Like The YSL RICO Case Would Have Been A Lot Shorter If It Were In Texas

Three cheers for common sense!

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rap music lyricsYoung Thug is currently enmeshed in a RICO case alleging that his rap group Young Stoner Life (YSL) is actually operating as a criminal gang. You’d expect such a weighty accusation to come with some equally weighty evidence: crime scene sketches, detailed money trails, and the like. Oddly enough, a sizeable amount of the evidence can be found on YouTube. Treating rap lyrics and videos like confessions might fly in Georgia, but Texas just issued a pretty strong opinion nixing that practice in the bud. From the ABA Journal:

A trial judge should not have allowed prosecutors to introduce an accused getaway driver’s rap videos at trial in an effort to show that he was more sophisticated than he claimed to be, the top criminal court in Texas has ruled.

In a May 8 opinion, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the capital murder conviction of Larry Jean Hart…Prosecutors introduced the rap videos to show Hart’s “level of sophistication” and his ability to understand what people are communicating.

Hart testified during the trial that one of the videos offered as evidence had nothing to do with the case at hand. Prosecutors tried to pin him with lyrics from another video, but Hart responded that someone else wrote the lyrics. This isn’t uncommon in rap — ghostwriters have written lyrics, sometimes entire songs, for rappers. Sometimes they get credit, sometimes they don’t. This should cut against the prosecutorial impulse to use a rapper’s lyrics against them in court — they’re hardly the biographical proof of crime you’re making them out to be if the person saying it didn’t actually pen it, no? Texas’s high court goes on to elaborate why the use of rap in court cases can be highly prejudicial:

Rap often uses exaggeration and braggadocio, the court said. Nor is it the only music genre that uses exaggeration.

“Other than Taylor Swift, who is known to write songs based on her personal experiences, it is not reasonable to assume that all lyrics are autobiographical as to past or future conduct, unless there is direct evidence to suggest otherwise,” the court said.

“Holding song lyrics to their literal meaning would lead to the following conclusions: Freddie Mercury ‘killed a man;’ Bob Marley ‘shot the sheriff;’ Macy Gray ‘committed murder and … got away;’ the band formerly known as the Dixie Chicks killed Earl; and classically, Johnny Cash ‘shot a man just to watch him die.’”

Will this decision be a major boon to Thug’s camp? Probably not, since Georgia and Texas stopped being circuit mates in 1980s, but it should give some hope to artists in Texas that their creativity won’t be unduly used against them in the court of law. Unless your name is Taylor Swift. It seems the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals thinks her lyrics are fair game.

Accused Getaway Driver, AKA ‘Block Da Foo Foo,’ Was Prejudiced By Rap Video Evidence, Texas Court Says [ABA Journal]

Earlier: I Don’t Think People Understand How Silly It Is To Use Song Lyrics As Evidence

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Desperate For Evidence, Prosecutors Will Use Young Thug Lyrics In Trial

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s.  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.

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