Source: Rolling Stone / Getty
It’s been four years since up-and-coming rap star Pop Smoke was murdered during a home robbery in Hollywood Hills. And now one of the men involved in the killing will have his day in court this summer.
According to Vulture, a Los Angeles judge has just set a June 25 trial date for Corey Walker, who’s accused of taking part in the robbery that led to the shooting of Pop Smoke (born Bashar Barakah Jackson) on Feb. 19, 2020. Walker (who was 19 years old at the time) was the only suspect charged as an adult in the murder and has pleaded not guilty to one count of murder and three counts related to the home robbery.
Walker’s defense in the matter is that he wasn’t a part of the actual planning of the home robbery and was nothing more than the getaway driver who waited outside of the home while the entire scenario unfolded. Prosecutors, on the other hand, paint Walker as the mastermind in the case and have said as much in the charges they’re lobbing at the defendant.
Per Vulture:
Prosecutors argue that Walker “Facilitated the crimes by not only surveilling the crime scene before the crimes were committed but serving as the researcher, getaway driver, weapons provider and planner of this home invasion robbery.”
The trial date comes almost a year after three other minors involved in the killing settled their cases with one pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter, another confessing to killing the rapper, and the third settling his case at an “undisclosed time.”
What are your thoughts on the case? Let us know in the comments section below.