Rapper Derek Foster faces indictment for possession and intending to distribute drugs inside two suitcases.
At trial, Derek said he knew nothing about the contents of the box.
But the Illinois prosecutor countered with rap lyrics written by Derek, "Pound for pound, pound for pound." I'm the biggest drug dealer and my services are all over the city. ”
The lyrics were identified as Derek's autobiography and incriminating evidence, and Derek was found guilty.
For the police and the prosecution, it is not a dangerous trick to find evidence of the crime in the rap lyrics written by the defendant, and the odds of winning are still great.
Black's brother, Nathaniel Woods, who was accused of murdering three police officers, insisted on appealing to clear his name.
What Woods didn't expect was that the rap lyrics he adapted while awaiting trial in an Alabama jail would become his funeral elegy: "Seven executional murders / I have no remorse because I'm a fucking murderer." / Haven't you heard of the killings / I let the cops go down like Kerry Spencer*. ”
Carey Spencer, mentioned in the lyrics, pleaded guilty to murder in other trials.
And Woods was eventually sentenced to death.
- "He's innocent" Kim Kardashian sparked outrage after Nathaniel Woods was executed for another man's confession to the crime
In the United States, the practice of introducing rap lyrics into criminal trials has been going on for more than three decades, and there have been hundreds of cases involving it.
About three-quarters of the defendants in such cases are African-American men.
荣获格莱美奖的说唱歌手Young Thug也没逃过这种宿命。
Young Thug线上出庭
同样是Young Thug
Most judges will allow the use of rap evidence to establish the motive and intent of the crime.
Charges often include homicide, drug possession, and gang charges.
In cases heard by New Jersey courts, rap evidence has a high approval rate of 80 percent.
The Maryland Supreme Court ruled that rap lyrics were admissible in court as evidence of the defendant's guilt.
In the absence of other evidence, rap songs may even serve as the only evidence of guilt, achieving a one-hit kill.
Wisconsin police investigated three shootings and found no fingerprints, weapons or witnesses at the crime scene.
The case went nowhere, until teenager Tommy Cannady posted a rap song "I'm Out Here" online.
About a week after the song was posted, a SWAT team with assault rifles burst into Canady's bedroom and charged him with first-degree intentional homicide and armed robbery.
Tommy Canady
Canadi pleaded not guilty.
Police said the lyrics featured the name of the victim, Semar, and also wrote about a small alley and murder details such as a bullet hitting the head.
Canady explained that the rap style was too dry, causing the police to mishear the lyrics.
歌词不是“catch Semar slipping（注意到塞马尔滑倒）”，而是“catch a mawg slippin”，他在别的歌中也使用过该俚语，意思是“对面的人”。
Canady also insisted on rapping while awaiting trial in prison.
The lyrics give the police new evidence, "I had blood on my shoes that leaked out of his head", "I took this with me on his last day, and I drove with two guns".
The police stressed that the main thrust of the lyrics was to shoot people, that the victim Semar was shot in the head, and that two guns were indeed found in the defendant's home - one of which was of the same shape and was not loaded, but there was no way to determine that it was the murder weapon.
检察官当庭播放了两次“I'm Out Here”，分别是初版和降速版。
An hour and a half later, the jury found Canady guilty to both counts and sentenced him to life in prison. Canadi was under the age of 18 when he was imprisoned, and parole was not possible until 50 years later.
"Rap lyrics present a difficult problem for prosecutors. Deborah Gonzalez said, "Because it's the prosecutor's job to prove the guilt of the accused, and rap lyrics really work." ”
Deborah is the District Attorney in Athens-Clark County, Georgia.
She cautioned her colleagues not to rely too much on rap lyrics, especially if the lyrics have no context or other reliable evidence.
U.S. federal and state courts have mandated that evidence presented to a jury must meet two criteria, namely reliability and relevance.
This ultimately depends on the discretion of judges, prosecutors, and defense lawyers.
Each party presents its own opinion on this, and it is up to the judge to decide whether to see rap lyrics as artistic expression or evidence of a crime.
Compared with other music genres, rap is a high-risk genre, and it is easier to go to the judicial path of presenting evidence in court.
Studies have shown that labeling the same violent lyrics as rap and country songs will bring different feelings to readers.
Even if the content of the lyrics remains the same, if it is classified as rap, people will find the lyrics more offensive and based on the author's real experience.
If it is introduced as a country song, people tend to think that the lyrics are high in artistic composition and relatively harmless.
Stuart Fisoff is a professor of psychology at California State University in Los Angeles.
Stewart's study found that 134 student participants had an even greater aversion to rap lyrics than to murder charges.
So the judge needs to balance whether the evidentiary value of the rap lyrics outweighs the bias it brings.
If its role is primarily to give the jury a negative impression of the defendant, rather than establishing the defendant's connection to the crime, rap evidence should not be admitted.
But there are still outright voices in society that rap lyrics violate the First Amendment as evidence of a crime.
Because the First Amendment stipulates that freedom of speech, creative expression, shall not be restricted.
Support the Rap Act to protect Black music
Based on this controversy, California passed a bill prohibiting the use of rap lyrics as evidence unless the prosecutor proves that the rap lyrics are directly relevant to the case at a hearing without the presence of a jury.
A similar bill has been introduced in New York State.
It requires prosecutors to prove that rap lyrics are literal, not figurative or fictitious, in order to be used as evidence.
But the bill was not passed by the state legislature.
Attorney Dina Laporte believes that the reason why US courts use rap lyrics as evidence of a crime is because they do not understand rap.
Bragging and violent imagery are the norm in the genre of rap.
"Doing so by the court could stifle rappers' creativity and limit the scope of artistic expression. Dina worried.