Charges dropped against local rapper 'Tiny Doo'

[uhnope]

Source: KGTV

SAN DIEGO - A local rapper who has spent eight months behind bars for his song lyrics may soon go free.

A judge has dropped conspiracy charges against Brandon Duncan -- who goes by the rapper name "Tiny Doo" -- and more than a dozen other gang members. Duncan's attorney, Brian Watkins, talked to 10News on the phone after the ruling. "His spirits are up now," said Watkins. "It's been a terrible situation for him. He's been in jail for over half a year."

Duncan and 14 other gang members were charged in a gang conspiracy involving nine shootings since April 2013.

Duncan has not been tied directly to the shootings, but he is the first person to be charged under a little-used statute approved by California voters in 2000 that allows for the prosecution of gang members if they benefited from crimes committed by other gang members. In a jailhouse interview with 10News, he said his album "No Safety" is merely about urban culture and does not promote gang violence.

"I'm just painting a picture of a story, that's it," Duncan said. "I'm not telling anybody 'hey go commit this crime.'" In court, the judge found no proof that Duncan knew anything about any of the shootings or that he benefited from them in any way.

Read more: http://www.10news.com/news/charges-dropped-against-local-rapper-tiny-doo-01132015

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incredibly fucked up

[SummerSnow]

1. There has to be a Big Doo if there is a Tiny Doo

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

3. There might also be a DJ Doo Doo. nt

[GreatGazoo]

10. Here is an artist's conception of the gang, Tiny Doo on left...

[Gman]

2. Sounds like the guy's scum anyway

No sympathy for gang members. Sounds like the just couldn't prove he knew about the murders. He's a gang member. He knows.

[1monster]

5. So we should throw people in prison for life just because they are scum? There won't be any people

left to run the prisons!

The prosecutor argues that "rap music is just another form of communication that gang members use" as their rationale for charging him under the statute.

I don't like rap 99 44/100% of the time and I don't like gangsta rap at all, but I hardly thing that rap music should be punishable by life in prison. (Just wire their jaws shut until they promise never to do it again -- thas a joke son! )

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/dec/03/tiny-doo-rapper-facing-life-for-making-album

Despite his lack of a criminal record, Duncan stands accused of nine counts of participating in a “criminal street gang conspiracy”, charges that could land him in prison for life.

But Duncan is not charged with participating in any of the crimes underlying the conspiracy, or even agreeing to them. Rather, he’s effectively on trial for making a rap album.

While details are sparse and the evidence presented against Duncan thus far is reportedly thin, prosecutors appear to be operating on the premise that criminal activity by others, mentioned in Duncan’s lyrics, benefits sales of his album No Safety. “We’re not just talking about a CD of anything, of love songs,” Deputy District Attorney Anthony Campagna argued to the court at Duncan’s preliminary hearing this month.

***

Putting a musician on trial for his lyrics is antithetical to Americans’ free speech rights, and quite possibly unconstitutional. What’s more, the “criminal street gang conspiracy” law that Duncan is charged with violating – part of an anti-gang initiative package passed by California voters in 2000 – stands in marked contrast to conspiracy as California has traditionally defined it.

Ordinarily, to be guilty of conspiracy in California an individual must agree with another person to commit a crime, then at least one of them must take action to further that conspiracy. The charge Duncan faces requires no such agreement: so long as prosecutors can show that Duncan is an active member of the gang and knows about its general criminal activity, past or present, he can be convicted for benefiting from its acts.

[Gman]

6. I never even mentioned rap music

I think that's beside the fact that he's a gang member and likely guilty. They couldn't get him on an accessory rap so they tried this route and he beat it.

[1monster]

7. The whole criminal case was based on the rap song. And you have proof that he is a gang member?

And probably guilty? Well, the DA didn't have proof and that's why the case was thrown out.

[uhnope]

9. yeah I can't believe there's no outrage and there are DU jokes instead

it's a clear freedom of expression case. Eight months in prison before a hearing that finds him not connected to the crime?

I guess people wait for their progressive heroes to tell them when to be outraged, and then they react accordingly.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

4. Reminds me of Iceman McGee and the song "Kill Doug Szathkey":

[undeterred]

8. Thank goodness, says Tiny Doo

[FrodosPet]

11. If you post any "Tiny Doo" videos, they will be alerted and removed

You might quite possibly even PPRed. This is some strong stuff with generous doses of the "n" word, drug sales activity, and violence.

That said, with all the violence in movies and other areas of artistic expression, he should not be singled out for a particular strident and personalized expression.

Unless he's actually killed or assaulted someone, or was DIRECTLY involved in a conspiracy, there is nothing to jail him over.