The rapper, who has been in jail since 2021, was sentenced to 20 years but could be released in a matter of months due to time served and a probational period
Rapper YFN Lucci pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a single count of violating the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act. The charge is connected to the late 2020 shooting of 28-year-old James Adams in Atlanta. The musician, born Rayshawn Bennett, was arrested in January 2021 and charged with murder for his role as a driver in the shooting. He has remained in Fulton Country Jail in Georgia since.
Bennett faced life in prison without the possibility for parole but has been sentenced to 20 years in prison, with 10 years served in custody and the remaining time on probation. Bennett reached a deal with prosecutors for 12 of the 13 counts he faced to be dropped. The rapper will receive credit for time served and could be made eligible for parole in the next four months.
“After three years of pretrial litigation, more than two weeks of jury selection, and three years of incarceration waiting for his jury trial, today, the prosecution finally relented and dismissed the murder and RICO charges against Rayshawn Bennett,” defense attorneys Drew Findling, Gabe Banks and Marissa Goldberg told Washington Post. “As he has maintained for three years now, Mr. Bennett will NOT cooperate in any other case.”
Bennett was named among nearly a dozen other suspects in May 2021. The 75-page, 105-count indictment arrived one year before fellow Atlanta rapper Young Thug was arrested on gang-related charges, cracking open a sprawling YSL RICO case that arrived with its own 56-count grand jury indictment and 88-page indictment. Bennett was stabbed in jail in February 2022, and three YSL members were charged with attempted murder in connection.
