12/26/2023 0 Comments Creative expressions![]() Kuluk had no comment on a new trial due to ongoing litigation. “The jury found them guilty on all counts, including first degree murder, and was because of all the evidence the prosecutors presented in court, and that proved beyond reasonable doubt that they were responsible for murdering Kenneth Cooper,” he said. “This is not a case where that Bryant and Jackson were convicted of murder solely because of rap lyrics,” Asregadoo said. ![]() Public Information Officer to the DA Ted Asregadoo said they still have a strong case against both defendants. The Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office said they will proceed with criminal charges against Jackson and Bryant in a new trial while an internal policy change will be applied to stay in accordance with the law. The judge wrote that “it was more likely than not that these terms activated a racial stereotype” while the slur “resulted in priming the jury’s implicit racial bias against African Americans.” The racialized rhetoric, as cited in the ruling, included the use of slang terms like “pistol whip” and “drug rip.” ![]() “Hopefully making cases more fair for defendants facing similar issues.”īy using the defendants’ rap lyrics, the prosecution “though not done to purposefully invoke racial bias, more likely than not triggered the jury’s implicit racial bias against African American men.”Ī racial epithet that was repeated in quoting the men’s rap lyrics, the judge found, was discriminatory and “dehumanizing in its reference to the African American race.” “The Racial Justice Act, the creative expressions bill 2799, and this case are all moments of positive change in making the legal system more just,” Kuluk said. While the cases were not contingent on the law’s expansion, a precedent could be set for future cases, according to Kuluk. Their lyrics were presented at trial as generally violent, but made years before the murder occurred with no factual link to the charges, Bryant’s defense attorney Evan Kuluk said. The prosecution originally introduced the rap lyrics to prove the defendants’ gang affiliation, according to the court order.īryant was 28 years old and Jackson 21 at the time of the murder. and Jackson were convicted of Cooper’s murder “for the benefit of a criminal street gang,” Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge Clare Maier writes in her order. and Diallo Jackson were found guilty of gang enhancement in the 2014 fatal shooting of Kenneth Cooper.īryant Jr. Gavin Newsom’s signing of new legislation that limits the use of rap lyrics in criminal court cases in the state, touted as “a form of creative expression.” The murder convictions of two Black men in northern California were vacated Monday after a judge ruled the introduction of rap lyrics and racialized rhetoric violated the Racial Justice Act, a law designed to limit racism within the criminal justice system.
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