RECENT UPDATE: U.S. Rapper Faces Life Sentence Over Lyrics About Gang Violence

A San Diego rapper faces 25 years to life in prison for rapping about gun violence.

Brandon Duncan, aka Tiny Doo, was expecting a California Superior Court judge to dismiss his case on Friday, reported U-T San Diego. But the judge merely asked the defense to file a motion to dismiss the charges, which another judge will hear at a later date.

Although Duncan, who has no criminal record, hasn’t been accused of violent acts, he faces nine counts of street gang behavior.

Prosecutors are citing California Penal Code 182.5, which makes it a felony to benefit from a criminal activity. Duncan and 14 other alleged gang members supposedly gained respect after a series of shootings in San Diego in 2013, reported CNN.

Prosecutors referred to Duncan’s album, No Safety, and lyrics such as “Ain’t no safety on this pistol I’m holding” as an instance of “direct correlation to what the gang has been doing.”

“We have innocent defendants being held on a procedural technicality,” Brian Watkins, Duncan’s attorney, said at the hearing on Friday.

According to Time, the rapper couldn’t afford the $500,000 bail and has mostly remained in jail since his arrest eight months ago. He’ll go to trial on April 20.

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