The fourth and final person charged in connection with the 2020 killing of rising rap star Pop Smoke faces almost three decades in prison after pleading guilty to three counts this week, authorities said.
Corey Walker, 24, pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of voluntary manslaughter and two counts of robbery, with firearm and gang enhancements, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. In exchange for the plea, prosecutors dropped a murder charge against Walker.
Walker is expected to be sentenced to 29 years during his next court hearing on Feb. 21.
One of Walker’s attorneys, Deion A. Benjamin, said the evidence showed his client would have beaten the murder charge because he never intended to harm Pop Smoke.
“We send our condolences to Pop Smoke’s family, friends and loved ones,” Benjamin said Thursday afternoon. “It’s an unfortunate event and everyone loses out, but my client did not want this murder to happen.”
Benjamin said the plea deal was attractive because it meant Walker’s incarceration would end while his client was still relatively young.
The district attorney’s office said it would not comment on a pending case.
Pop Smoke, a rising rapper who drew acclaim after the release of his breakthrough mixtape, “Meet the Woo,” and follow-up, “Meet the Woo 2,” was shot in the torso during a home invasion robbery inside a posh Hollywood Hills house he was renting in February 2020.
Smoke, whose legal name was Bashar Barakah Jackson, later died at a hospital. He was 20 years old.
Investigators believe an image from an Instagram story may have revealed the address where he was staying, as well as valuables in his possession at the time.
Four people were charged in his death. Walker, the lone adult at the time of the slaying, was the alleged ringleader of a group that included three juveniles, according to the district attorney’s office.
The first defendant pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and home invasion robbery in April 2023 and was sentenced to four years and two months in the Secure Youth Treatment Facility.
Another man, who was 15 at the time, agreed to a juvenile court petition charging him with first-degree murder in May 2023. He also admitted to home invasion robbery and allegations that he personally and intentionally discharged a firearm during the crime.
The man is expected to be held in a state juvenile facility until he turns 25.
The third person charged in the crime “settled his case and was sent to a post-conviction juvenile housing facility,” according to Rolling Stone.
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