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Gunna has been denied bail again over witness intimidation concerns.
Atlanta rapper Gunna, whose real name is Sergio Kitchens, has been in jail since May 2022 after being denied bond for the third time. The Fulton County District Attorney’s Office indicted him and more than 25 other people — including rapper Young Thug and members of Young Slime Life (YSL) — for alleged gang involvement and crimes, including murders, shootings, and carjackings. Both rappers deny the charges against them and have been working hard to be granted bail as they await trial, so far without success.
Kitchens’ attorneys believe that he should have been granted bond after a new indictment dismissed his involvement in any violent acts to which the original YSL indictment referred. Defense attorney Steve Sadow insists that Kitchens doesn’t post as a risk and should not be kept locked up until next year’s trial.
However, prosecutor Adriane Love told the judge that one of the men charged in the YSL indictment had offered to kill someone on Gunna’s behalf. Additionally, she said that several of the state’s witnesses are so afraid of retaliation that they are scared to testify.
Prosecutors have asked a judge to delay the trial by three months to ensure all defendants can secure defense attorneys. Meanwhile, additional motions hearings are scheduled for next month, when the judge is expected to decide whether to postpone the trial until March. Currently, the trial is set to begin on January 9, 2023.
The case against Gunna and Young Thug continues to generate controversy, as the prosecution uses the rappers’ creative output as evidence against them. The use of lyrics and music videos as evidence in criminal cases has become the topic of much debate in recent years, in no small part due to concerns around bias. Jurors may be likelier to assume rap lyrics are based in reality than lyrics from other genres.