Georgia Supreme Court rules rap video shouldn't have been used to convict man
HOUSTON COUNTY, Ga. - The Georgia Supreme Court has overturned the conviction in Houston County of an Alabama man convicted of killing a guard at a nightclub in Warner Robins nightclub in 2019.
Morgan Baker was convicted in February 2022 of shooting Tamarco Head on July 5, 2019. Baker worked for a rapper named No-Cap, who was performing the night of the shooting. During the trial, the prosecutors showed the jury a 33-second clip from the rap video for the song "Ghetto Angels" that showed Baker holding a semi-automatic pistol with an extended magazine.
A majority of the Supreme Court judges said that the video wasn't relevant to the shooting and may have influenced the jury.
The decision means the case will go back to Houston County for a possible retrial.
There has been much debate in recent years about the usage of rap lyrics and videos as evidence in trials.
A Fulton County judge ruled in November, that lyrics could be used in the trial of Jeffery Williams, also known as Young Thug, who is currently on trial for violating Georgia's RICO Act and accused of participating in a criminal street gang responsible for violent crimes.
A Knoxville rapper named Christopher Bassett was convicted of a murder in 2015 after the state showed the jury a video featuring Bassett that the prosecutors claimed indicated Bassett's gang affiliation and appetite for violent retribution, according to the ACLU.
Andrea Dennis, a professor at the University of Georgia School of Law, helped write a book titled "Rap on Trial" Race, Lyrics, and Guild in America." According to the website for the book, the authors of the book was able to collect case information for nearly 700 cases where rap music was used against someone during the prosecution of a crime.