YoungBoy’s Baton Rouge gun trial could be delayed

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Defense attorneys are asking a federal judge in Baton Rouge to delay the start of a trial for Kentrell Gaulden, the rapper known as NBA YoungBoy.

The rapper’s trial is scheduled to begin July 15. A pre-trial hearing is scheduled to take place in late June.

Gaulden’s defense team submitted a request to the court this week to stall the proceedings.

Shelly Dick, chief judge for the U.S. Middle District Court of Louisiana, has not yet signed the order.

Gaulden’s attorneys cite two court cases that are before higher courts as reasons to delay the trial. They argue the outcome of those cases could better inform the court on how it should apply federal gun restrictions to Gaulden’s case.

Gaulden is facing a charge of felon in possession of a firearm tied to a music video shoot in Baton Rouge.

Police arrested Gaulden and more than a dozen others based on a tip that the group was showing off guns at a lot on Choctaw Drive in 2020.

Judge Dick was allowing the rapper to serve pre-trial house arrest in Utah, but prosecutors have asked her to revoke his bond. A hearing on the matter has not been scheduled yet.

Prosecutors argue Gaulden’s recent arrest in Utah is a violation of the court’s bond agreement.

Gaulden is currently in custody in Cache County, Utah, and faces 63 criminal charges tied to a “large scale” prescription drug ring.

HIGHER COURT CHALLENGES:

The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen reworked the way lower courts, including federal courts, are instructed to weigh Second Amendment defenses in gun rights cases. The ruling cleared the way for defense attorneys to fight off convictions related to certain gun restrictions.

Gaulden’s defense attorneys argue that another case before the U.S. Supreme Court, the case of Zackey Rahimi, may add more clarity on how the court should weigh Gaulden’s Second Amendment defense.

Rahimi, a Texas man, had his conviction overturned at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals based in New Orleans. Police arrested Rahimi for possessing a gun after a court placed a protective order on his dating partner. Rahimi’s legal team successfully appealed the conviction at the Fifth Circuit after the Supreme Court handed down its instruction in the Bruen case.

The second case cited by Gaulden’s legal team is currently before the Fifth Circuit.

Another Texas man, Jeroswaski Collette, was arrested in June of 2022. Police said Collette used guns to threaten an employee at a tow-truck lot after his car was repossessed. He was charged and later convicted of knowingly possessing a firearm after a prior felony conviction.

The Fifth Circuit has stayed Collette’s appeal pending the Supreme Court’s decision in Rahimi’s case.

“Trial is less than twelve weeks away. The parties have consulted and believe that while possibly the Rahimi decision might assist the Court in its resolution of the pending motion, since it concerns a different statute, awaiting resolution of Collette by the Fifth Circuit might be more productive,” wrote Gaulden’s defense attorneys.

“We do not know when Rahimi will be decided. Furthermore, while impossible to predict, even a relatively quick resolution by the Collette panel after a Rahimi decision is likely to take some time,” the attorneys added.

Gaulden’s defense team noted that Assistant U.S. Attorney Will Morris has impressed upon them that he would not object to delaying the trial.

Gaulden is considered a felon after a 2017 conviction in Baton Rouge.

The rapper was arrested and convicted of assault with a firearm in a 2016 drive-by shooting in Baton Rouge. A trial judge suspended a prison sentence and placed Gaulden on probation.

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