After Kobe got his ass locked up, everybody was on my ass. And when I say everybody, I’m talking about the ops—the police.
They were knocking on our door day in and day out, making sure they took statements from everyone in the suite. They even asked me straight up if I was the one who drove Kobe to the party. Now, the easiest thing to do would’ve been to just lie, or maybe tell them the truth. But there was no way in hell I was telling them I drove him there. Do these niggas not know what the felony murder rule is?
The felony murder rule is some devious legal shit. Under federal law and in most states, if you commit a dangerous felony and someone dies while it’s happening or while you’re running away,
everybody
involved gets charged with murder. It doesn’t matter if you never touched a gun, and it doesn’t matter if you never wanted anyone to die. Let me give you a prime example.
There was this dude named Charles “Sonny” Burton. I don’t remember every single detail, but him and some other guys robbed a store back in the day. Sonny wasn’t even inside the building when the shooting started; matter of fact, he was already gone, ran like eight blocks away by the time the cops showed up. But the guy he was with shot and killed the owner. And what did the state do?
When they caught Sonny, they locked him up and put him on death row for a murder he didn’t commit. He didn’t kill anybody—all he did was help rob the place. And the most fucked-up part? The actual shooter—the guy who pulled the trigger—got life in prison, while Sonny, who only took some cash, got sentenced to die. He actually killed somebody and gets life, but the guy who only took money gets the needle? Explain that logic to me.
I can’t even pull the race card because both of them were Black. They just wanted to see Sonny die. That’s all it was. But that’s not even the craziest part. Let me put you down on another case—something way closer to home, something I can actually relate to.
Ryan Holle. Prime example. White guy who got hit with a first-degree murder conviction just for lending his car to his friends. Those “friends” took his car, beat an 18-year-old girl to death with the butt of a shotgun, and robbed her. When the murder actually happened, Ryan was fast asleep in his own bed, miles away.
He didn’t know a damn thing. When the cops showed up, he was honest. He told them he let his roommates borrow the keys, completely clueless about what they were planning. Big mistake. They charged him with felony murder. He wasn’t even at the scene, he had no idea there was a weapon, he was literally sleeping, and they gave him life without parole.
Think about how insane that is. That’s like if I let somebody borrow my phone or my bike. They go do some dirt, bring it back clean with no blood on it, and suddenly my life is over?
I’m looking at life in prison or the chair? And the victim’s family? They wanted Ryan to rot in prison. They dead-ass believed that a man who was asleep at home deserved to lose his entire life because he handed over his car keys without knowing what was about to go down.
Is that not the biggest load of bullshit you’ve ever heard? He had to sit in a cell for over ten years before the governor finally commuted his sentence.
People make me sick, bro. In Sonny’s case, at least the victim’s daughter knew he wasn’t the shooter and begged the governor to spare his life. But for Ryan? Dude was white, and they still gave him that nigga treatment. The family was out there saying, “
Let him rot, he gave them the keys to kill my sister.”
They were completely wildin’.
Now, you’re probably wondering,
Yo Rico, if you didn’t tell nobody what happened, then what the fuck did you do?
And that, my friend, was simple. I pleaded the Fifth and shut my fucking mouth.
We have the right to remain silent for a reason, but the catch is, most people don’t know that shit isn’t automatic. If you don’t actually say “I’m invoking my Fifth Amendment rights” out loud, they can use your silence against you in court. They’ll tell the jury, “
An innocent man would’ve said he didn’t do it,”
or “
An innocent man would have spoken up.”
Some real snake-ass legal loophole bullshit.
They did take my ass down to the station, but the second we got there, I demanded a lawyer. They couldn’t hold me, so eventually, they had to send me home.
Luckily, Kobe was a real-ass nigga. He didn’t say a single word about me driving him there. He kept his mouth shut. But his life was over, literally. They handed my boy the death penalty. With his record, my nigga didn’t stand a chance. I still put money on his books for commissary every now and then, though. It’s the least I can do.
And as of today? My parole is officially over. I’m a free man. A free man with a clean record and a fresh start.