The lawyers for rapper Pooh Shiesty have submitted a new court filing that claims that “ballistic and forensic evidence” proves that the artist did not shoot a man in the butt during a 2020 drug deal gone bad.
According to Rolling Stone, the defense called a probation report “illogical” for recommending a judge honor the prosecutor’s proposed eight-year sentence.
Brad Cohen, who represents Pooh Shiesty, born Lontrell Williams, filed the claim on Friday, March 11th.
The court document further states that since Cohen’s client pleaded guilty to a firearms conspiracy charge in January, it is unfair for the report to suggest that he was involved in the October 9th, 2020 “robbery/shooting” at the Landon Hotel in Bay Harbor Islands, Fl.
“The government wants this court to believe Mr. Williams, with a net worth of $3,449,446, planned a robbery, then committed a robbery, and then shot a known drug dealer who knew him well and could easily identify him,” Cohen wrote in the filing. “All over a few hundred-dollar drug deal for personal use, while he was driving a lime green McLaren that he rented from the alleged victim.”
“Mr. Williams possessed over $40,000 in cash and was driving a vehicle valued at over $200,000.”
The attorney continued to argue, “It would be illogical for Mr. Williams to stage a robbery by two other individuals over something so minuscule as a bottle of liquid codeine with a retail value of a few hundred dollars, at most, when any damage done to the McLaren in the process would have cost thousands of dollars to repair.”
“We will provide both ballistics and forensic evidence that Mr. Williams did not fire a weapon and did not strike anyone during the Bay Harbor incident,” Cohen stated.
Cohen maintains that the probation pre-sentencing report stated that the “Back in Blood” rapper should be punished more harshly than the offense he pleaded guilty to would call for. Instead of the suggested 7 to 9 years, he believes his client should get 37 and 46 months.
The Memphis rapper was accused of allegedly driving the McLaren to the hotel to buy weed, codeine, and a pair of high-end athletic sneakers from the man on the day of the shooting.
Later reports note that Pooh Shiesty is seen on footage at the crime scene in the McLaren, with his road manager in the passenger seat. A surveillance video shows that a black Mercedes Maybach follows them.
After Pooh Shiesty received the marijuana and sneakers, the prosecution says that he pulled out a Draco and shot the alleged victim in the buttocks.
After the gunplay, it is alleged that the rapper drove off and dropped a Louis Vuitton bag filled with $40,912.
In addition to the video footage, detectives used the money from the bag to link the artist to the crime. The serial number on one of the $100 bills in the bag matched the serial number on a $100 bill he flashed on Instagram a few days before.
Sentencing for Pooh Shiesty is set for April 20th.