Re: Court overturns California black criminal's murder conviction, citing state's new 'rap lyrics' law

[Franz Xaver Kroetz]

On 04 Nov 2021, Trump 2020 <rapinro...@excite.com> posted some
news:sm17pl$bhh$7...@news.dns-netz.com:

> Susan Cohen wrote
>
>>
>> No it's not prejudicial, you assholes. He's a fucking nigger rapper
>> and a criminal.

An appellate court in Riverside, California, overturned the murder
conviction of a man who was sentenced to 129 years to life in prison,
ruling in part that the use of a rap video as evidence in this case
violates the state's new "Decriminalizing Artistic Expression Act" – a
landmark law, which was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sept. 31, 2022.

Travon Rashan Venable, Sr., was convicted of first degree murder and
attempted murder in connection to a 2014 drive-by shooting. He pleaded not
guilty.

According to court documents obtained by ABC News, prosecutors alleged
that Venable and a fellow gang member were involved in a drive-by
shooting. Venable was accused of driving the car while his co-defendant
fired shots.

The appellate court judge ruled in a Feb. 17 opinion obtained by ABC News
that the "admission of the rap video without the new safeguards was
prejudicial to Venable" and the prosecution's emphasis on the rap video
during the trial "likely had an effect on the outcome."

The court ruled that although the law wasn't in effect during Venable's
trial, it applies retroactively to cases that are not final and under
appeal.

The court reversed the conviction and remanded Venable’s case for a new
trial.

The ruling came after the California Supreme Court transferred the case
back to the appellate court to reconsider the case in light of the new
law.

Jacquelyn Rodriguez, the public affairs officer for the San Bernardino
District Attorney's office, which prosecuted this case, told ABC News on
Wednesday that Venable's case is "the first case in the state that has
been reversed due to the new law."

"Right now we're in a waiting phase to see if the appellate court will
give jurisdiction back to us," she added.

The video
According to court documents obtained by ABC News, prosecutors introduced
a YouTube video found by police where Venable and other members of the
California Gardens gang are seen "flashing gang signs" and displaying
"guns, drugs, and money."

Prosecutors alleged that a rap in the video, "Got word from a bird[] that
they did that [racial slur] dead wrong/Slid up Medical and left that
[racial slur] head gone," was boasting about the drive-by shooting, but
according to court documents, Venable didn’t say anything in the video.

“Nothing in the song indicates the rapper or others in the video had
personal knowledge or involvement in the shooting, only that they had
heard about it,” the court’s opinion said.

In the ruling the court pointed to testimony from a gang expert who
testified that the gang as a whole took credit for the shooting.

"There is substantial doubt whether the trial judge would have admitted
the video evidence under the new standard, and it's clear the prosecution
used that evidence to tie Venable to the specific crime. The remaining
evidence of Venable's involvement was not strong," the court wrote in the
opinion, pointing to testimony from Venable's aunt who provided him with
an alibi and testimony from "a police informant who gave a series of
conflicting accounts of the incident and had testified Venable was being
framed."

Venable's attorney Jim Gass, who objected to the inclusion of the rap
video as evidence, told ABC News in a statement on Wednesday "this is the
type of case that created the need for the new evidence code regarding rap
lyrics."

"The conviction was overturned because the appellate court could see that
there was very little evidence against Venable other than the video," he
added.

The new law
The California law, which was dubbed the "rap lyrics bill," became the
state's Evidence Code section 352.2 and seeks to ensure that "creative
expression will not be used to introduce stereotypes or activate bias
against the defendant, nor as character or propensity evidence," according
to the text of the law.

In reversing and remanding Venable's conviction, the court wrote, "It's
uncontested the trial judge did not consider those additional factors
before admitting a rap video in Venable's trial and that the trial, as a
result, didn't comply with the new requirements for admission."

Rap lyrics have been used by prosecutors in the U.S. for decades as
evidence in criminal cases, helping put rappers behind bars. But it wasn't
until lyrics were used in the May 2022 indictment of Grammy-winning rapper
Young Thug on gang-related charges that the controversial practice sparked
a movement in the music industry to "Protect Black Art," and fueled a wave
of support for legislation seeking to limit the practice.

The California bill is the first legislation that explicitly sets
guidelines for the the use of rap lyrics in court to be signed into law in
the U.S.

Similar bills that seek to set guidelines that could limit the use of rap
lyrics in court have been introduced in states like Maryland, New York,
New Jersey and Missouri, and a federal bill, known as the "Rap Act," was
introduced in Congress last year.

Some outline more restrictive guidelines than others, but the bills
essentially limit the use of rap lyrics in court by requiring a judge to
consider whether there's a factual link between the lyrics and the alleged
crime and whether introducing the song or video could inject racial bias
into the case.

Rodriguez said that if Venable's case comes back to the Superior Court,
the DA's office "would review it," and consider the new law.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/court-overturns-california-mans-murder-
conviction-citing-states/story?id=97523648