ATLANTA — Atlanta rapper Gunna, one of the 28 defendants charged for alleged activity in a street gang prosecutors say is interwoven with Young Thug's YSL record label, will be getting out of jail after his attorneys submitted a plea deal on Wednesday.
The rapper, whose real name is Sergio Kitchens, said in a statement he had "chosen to end my own RICO case with an Alford plea and end my personal ordeal by publicly acknowledging my association with YSL."
An Alford plea, according to Cornell's Legal Information Institute, is one in which a defendant "registers a formal admission of guilt towards charges in criminal court while the defendant simultaneously expresses their innocence toward those same charges."
In a sense, it is like pleading innocent but effectively accepting a guilty outcome.
"An Alford plea in my case is the entry of a guilty plea to the one charge against me, which is in my best interest, while at the same time maintaining my innocence toward the same charge," Gunna's statement said.
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According to a copy of Gunna's case resolution document, as part of his plea he was given a five-year sentence, with four of those years suspended and a one-year prison sentence that was commuted to time served (essentially, they counted the seven months he had already been in jail and waived the rest).
The plea agreement also requires him to perform at least 350 hours of community service, "a substantial portion of which will require that you speak to young men and women about the hazards and immorality of gangs and gang violence, and the decay that it causes in the community."
He is also generally not allowed to possess guns or commit criminal acts.
Gunna said in his statement his agreement did not include any cooperation with the case or promise to give testimony in the trial and that he had "absolutely NO intention of being involved in the trial process" - though the copy of the agreement does appear to indicate that if called to testify in the trial "by any party in this case," he "will testify truthfully" but can "reserve your right to assert your 5th Amendment privilege against self-incrimination."
His full statement said:
When I became affiliated with YSL in 2016, I did not consider it a “gang”; more like a group of people from metro Atlanta who had common interests and artistic aspirations. My focus of YSL was entertainment - rap artists who wrote and performed music that exaggerated and “glorified” urban life in the Black community.
While I have agreed to always be truthful, I want to make it perfectly clear that I have NOT made any statements, have NOT been interviewed, have NOT cooperated, have NOT agreed to testify or be a witness for or against any party in the case and have absolutely NO intention of being involved in the trial process in any way. I have chosen to end my own RICO case with an Alford plea and end my personal ordeal by publicly acknowledging my association with YSL.
An Alford plea in my case is the entry of a guilty plea to the one charge against me, which is in my best interest, while at the same time maintaining my innocence toward the same charge. I love and cherish my association with YSL music, and always will. I look at this as an opportunity to give back to my community and educate young men and women that “gangs” and violence only lead to destruction.
Gunna has been in jail since May, when arrests were made and the RICO case was announced by the office of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
His lawyers had repeatedly sought bail in his case, arguing his connection to the case was among the thinnest of any of the defendants.
The sprawling indictment bringing the charges against the rapper and 27 others, including Young Thug, only mentioned him a few times, most using his social media posts or song lyrics as evidence of gang membership.
Gunna maintained his innocence in one of the few public statements he made this year, and made reference to his plans upon being released: "Nothing will stop me from chasing my dreams, I won't stop being a good person, even if some unnamed and unknown accusers want the world to see me as a bad person," he wrote. "When I was free, I tried to be good and kind to the community around me and, when I am released, I will do the same thing all over again."
His case brought in high-profile support from the likes of Kim Kardashian, who tweeted in October that "there is no evidence tying him to a single crime, or showing that he is a risk to the community" after he was once again denied bond.
He officially only faced one count of conspiracy to violate RICO - essentially, being a member of the gang. Additional accusations within the indictment included theft by receiving stolen property (a gun), possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, possession of hydrocodone with intent to distribute and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute - which were qualified as acts of "racketeering activity, and an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy" which constituted the felony offense of "participation in criminal street gang activity."