Lil Mosey appeared in Lewis County Superior Court in Washington yesterday and entered a not guilty plea on a second-degree rape charge stemming from an incident last year.
Amy Muth and Jennifer Atwood, attorneys for the rapper, born Lathan Echols, maintain their client's innocence. The lawyers told XXL in a statement on Tuesday (April 27), "Lathan was never arrested and was never on the run. He only learned of this allegation last week. Notice of his court date was sent to the wrong address. Once Lathan learned about the warrant, he told his attorneys to contact the prosecutor right away. The prosecutor agreed that the judge could quash the warrant immediately, which the judge did. Lathan then appeared in court at the first opportunity. Today, the judge found he wasn’t a flight risk and didn’t impose any bail. Lathan entered a plea of not guilty because he is innocent. We expect him to be exonerated."
Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer additionally confirmed to XXL that the "Blueberry Faygo" artist appeared in court this week and a sexual assault protection order has been put in place. Meyer also notes that Lil Mosey has been scheduled for future court hearings including an omnibus hearing—or a hearing where Mosey will have to be present with his attorneys—on June 17 and a trial confirmation on July 8. His trial will begin the week of July 19.
As previously reported, the Washington native was charged with rape from an incident at a cabin in January of 2020. The incident involved an alleged male friend of Mosey's named Francisco "Cisco" Prater and two women identified only by the initials M.K.J. and J.M.H. in court documents.
The warrant Mosey's lawyers refer to was issued for his arrest for his failure to appear for a court appearance last week. However, the warrant was dismissed because the court hearing information was sent to an address that Mosey hasn't resided at for five years, according to a report from The Chronicle on Wednesday (April 28).
The report also notes that Mosey's attorneys requested he be allowed to travel outside of Washington for work to honor already scheduled international tour dates in Portugal, Canada and the U.S. set for this year and 2022. The judge reportedly obliged their request.
"I will allow the travel," Judge James W. Lawler said. "It’s not like he can go off and hide somewhere because that would make this so much worse."
Lil Mosey's lawyers also requested the 19-year-old rhymer's trial date be pushed back to January of 2022, indicating that he would forgo his right to a speedy trial, allowing the attorneys to “track down witnesses” whom they were "unaware existed” prior to the charges being filed. That particular request was denied by the judge and deemed "premature."
In addition to Lil Mosey, another man, 19-year-old Francisco "Cisco" Prater, is accused of raping one of the two women. The women friends were identified in court docs as M.K.J. and J.M.H. J.M.H. admits to agreeing to consensual sex with Mosey in a car outside of the cabin. Prater later allegedly carried J.M.H. upstairs inside the cabin and hit the woman's head on something. J.M.H. remembers being placed on a bed and blacking out. She awoke to Mosey on top of her, having sex with her. The woman claims she blacked out again and woke to Prate forcing his penis inside of her. At that point, Mosey supposedly left the room.
Prater has not appeared in court yet and there is a $50,000 warrant for his arrest.
Lil Mosey was not 18 years old when the incident reportedly took place. He turned 18 on Jan. 25, 2020. The Lewis County Prosecutor's Office waited 15 months to file charges against the rapper. Prater, on the other hand, was of legal age when the incident transpired. The victim was also of legal age when the alleged rape occurred.
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