The Atlanta rapper says he wants to end the “ordeal” of awaiting trial on gang-related charges.
Rapper Gunna has been released from jail in the US after he agreed to enter a guilty plea to a gang-related charge.
According to local media and his lawyer, Gunna maintains his innocence despite pleading guilty.
The 29-year-old, real name Sergio Kitchens, was among 28 people linked to Atlanta record label YSL arrested in May.
They include fellow rapper Young Thug, who is set to face trial next month accused of criminal gang activity.
In a statement released through defence attorney Steve Sadow, Gunna says he took an Alford plea.
Under US law, defendants can enter a guilty plea to avoid a trial – where they face much harsher sentences – even if they don’t admit the crime they’re accused of.
Gunna says he has not co-operated with prosecutors or made statements against anyone else named in the case against him.
“[I] have absolutely NO intention of being involved in the trial process in any way,” he says.
Federal prosecutors in the US have accused YSL – Young Stoner Life – Records of being a front for organised crime.
They claim the label, founded by Young Thug, is responsible for “75 to 80% of violent crime” in Atlanta, where it’s based.
Gunna says he joined YSL in 2016 but did not consider it a gang.
Instead, he says, he believed it was 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.” he says.
Image source, Fulton County Sheriff’s Office
Atlanta news station WSB-TV reports that Gunna has been given a four-year suspended sentence and ordered to perform 500 hours of community service.
Much of this will involve talking to young people about the hazards of gangs, according to the station.
In his statement, Gunna says this will give him “an opportunity to give back to my community and educate young men and women that ‘gangs’ and violence only lead to destruction”.
Pushin P – the song by Gunna and Future, featuring Young Thug – has been nominated for a 2023 Grammy.
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