Prosecutors won’t seek the death penalty in the slaying of Brooklyn rapper Pop Smoke, a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney revealed Tuesday.
Corey Walker, 20, the only adult suspect among a group of teens charged in the killing, appeared in court for his re-arraignment and was ordered back Wednesday to enter his updated plea once prosecutors file the special paperwork confirming their decision.
“Our office is not going to be seeking death on this case, but we are going to be asking for a lot,” Deputy District Attorney Hilary Williams said during the brief morning hearing following a judge’s recent ruling there’s enough evidence to warrant a trial.
Walker is the only member of a group of four defendants who wasn’t a minor when Pop Smoke was shot and killed during a home-invasion robbery at a rented Hollywood Hills mansion in February 2020, prosecutors have said.
He was charged with murder with the special circumstance allegation that the slaying occurred during the commission of a robbery and a burglary, making him eligible for the death penalty.
At a preliminary hearing in May, Los Angeles Police detectives said Walker scouted Pop Smoke’s rented Airbnb hours before the shooting and knew his co-defendants planned to rob the musician at gunpoint to obtain the thick gold chain and diamond-studded watch he flashed in Instagram posts.
The detectives revealed chilling new details of their investigation, saying it was a 15-year-old gunman who fired the shots that killed the budding rapper — and that Pop Smoke was kicked repeatedly on the floor after he was wounded.
Walker’s defense lawyer, Christopher Darden, argued Walker was “at most” the driver for a robbery, someone who instructed the younger defendants not to shoot anybody.
“He’s clearly not an aider and abettor of premeditated murder,” Darden argued. “At most, he’s a principal in a robbery. ... He’s a driver. He is outside.”
The deadly heist netted only a Rolex watch resold for just $2,000, detectives testified in May.
Pop Smoke, whose real name was Bashar Jackson, was a fast-rising rap star known for his gravelly voice and creative beats when he died at age 20, just weeks away from finishing his debut studio album.
When his “Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon” was posthumously released in July 2020, it debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and included guest performances from Roddy Ricch, DaBaby, Lil Baby, Future, Quavo and Swae Lee.
It was a smash hit, spawning multiple international top-10 singles including the R&B-inspired track “What You Know Bout Love,” which also became a top-10 song of the year on TikTok.
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