Bobby Shmurda Accepts Seven-Year Plea Deal In Gang Conspiracy Case

Rapper Bobby Shmurda accepted a seven-year plea deal in his gang conspiracy case.

Shmurda, whose legal name is Ackquille Pollard, spent over a year and a half in jail awaiting trial after he was charged for a gang-related shooting and drug trafficking with a group dubbed GS9.

The trial kept getting postponed. But now, just three days before the jury selection was supposed to start, the 22-year-old Brooklyn rapper pleaded guilty to all charges last Friday (Sept. 9).

The news came as somewhat of a surprise to those following Shmurda’s case since he’s continuously maintained his innocence. He was even suing the New York Police Department for false arrest on his drug and gun charges.

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In a 2015 interview with Revolt, Shmurda continued his tirade against the Manhattan prosecutor and judge with claims that they were out to get him.

“Really, I’m allowed to say everything [so] right now I want everybody to know that I’m being targeted by police, the prosecutor, I’m being targeted by Manhattan judges, everything,” he said in a phone interview. “It’s a bunch of injustice going on with my case. Like right now, we’re putting in motions I got several laws pertaining to my case, during my whole incarceration.”

Later he added, “They violating my constitutional rights, my civil rights, everything. I’m not even supposed to be in Manhattan right now, I want everybody to know that. All of this is claims. I got a narcotics D.A. and there’s no drugs caught in this case. There’s no drugs, no kingpin charges, nothing.”

After Shmurda was placed in jail, his bail was set at $2 million. Despite just signing a major seven-figure deal with Epic Records and famed producer L.A. Reid, Shmurda was unable to post bail.

At the time, Reid commented that he couldn’t spend the cash to get Shmurda out of jail as he would in the past with other more popular artists.

“Bobby Shmurda is not the same as Snoop Dogg and Murder Was the Case, who’s coming off The Chronic and [Doggystyle],” said Reid on a podcast with Rap Radar. “It’s a different era, you know? And we’re a publicly held corporation. We just aren’t in the same position we were in back in those days so it’s a different day.”

It's a sad day in hip-hop. Bobby Shmurda and Rowdy Rebel will each serve 7 years in prison: https://t.co/iPrzZDt1Yq pic.twitter.com/lFv1Mqh91W

— watchLOUD (@watchLOUD) September 9, 2016

Shmurda is best known for his 2014 platinum hit song, “Hot N*gga” that reached the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart as well as the No. 6 spot on Billboard Hot 100 chart. The track also spun off with the popular Schmoney dance through the video app, Vine.

However, with time lost behind bars plus the remaining time he has left, it’s uncertain whether or not Shmurda will be able to recapture his success. Although it may have been his music that got in into trouble in the first place. In “Hot N*gga,” Shmurda raps about guns and shooting people which is arguably what led to his arrest.

“I feel like what they’re doing right now is what they do to a lot of people when they don’t have no case on them… I was targeted because of my rap music. It’s crazy,” said Shmurda in the aforementioned Revolt interview.

Two of Shmurda’s co-defendants, Chad Marshall and Nicolas McCoy accepted the same seven-year plea while another two, Rashid Derissant and Alex Crandon, weren’t so lucky. Derissant was sentenced to serve 98 and a half years while Crandon was sentenced with 53 and one-third years.

In a statement obtained by the New York Times, Shmurda’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, confirmed that Shmurda will receive credit for his time served. And this will “hopefully permit him to be home in approximately three and a half years and resume his remarkable career.”

[Photo by Brad Barket/Getty Images]