Judge upholds PnB Rock murder charges, rejects suggestion rapper 'scared' his shooter

California's dad accused of helping his teenage son plan what turned out to be the deadly armed robbery of rapper PnB Rock failed to drop his murder charges Friday with arguments including one suggesting the son may have fired out of “fear.”

At a morning hearing in Compton, California, a judge said that while much of the evidence against Freddie Trone, 42, is circumstantial, he found a “reasonable basis” to conclude that Trone had a position of “influence” during the during his 17 years. -aged son and knew he had a gun when he walked into Roscoe's Chicken 'N Waffles in South Los Angeles and shot the 'Middle Child' artist on September 12, 2022. “Whether his son fired in a panic is speculation. It's not in the video,” Judge Tammy Chung Ryu said from the bench.

In his written motion to dismiss and oral arguments before the ruling, Troun's defense attorney, Winston McKesson, said there was no evidence that his client handed over the gun or “instructed” his son to pull the trigger. He also claimed the shooter may have fired in reaction to something PnB Rock, born Rakim Allen, did in response to a demand for his jewelry. “From the restaurant's video camera, it is unclear what Mr. Rakim did with his hands after being approached by Mr. Trone's son. (The teenager) could be in fear for his life,” McKesson wrote in his filing.

“This was a child,” McKesson argued in court Friday. “You can't look under the table to see what the victim might have done to make this kid scared and shoot.” Asked about the motion after the hearing, McKesson said he wasn't talking about the son, just asserting that “there was no planned murder.”

The judge wasn't having it. He said the shooter was captured on video walking from his father's direction into the restaurant with a gun in his hand, not concealed. Judge Ryu said a reasonable person could conclude that the dad “would know his son had a gun and use it in the robbery and the robbery could go wrong and somebody could get killed.”

“Mr. Jones was in a position to dictate what his son did,” Judge Ryu said as she denied the dismissal motion. She said it was possible a jury would not find enough evidence to convict Trone of murder, but it did find sufficient evidence. to warrant a trial on charges that he showed “a reckless disregard for human life” and “helped” his son “knowing that someone could take”. was killed.”

Trone pleaded not guilty to one count of murder, two counts of robbery and one count of conspiracy. He appeared in court Friday with co-defendant Tremont Jones, a man who prosecutors say punched Allen as he entered the restaurant with his girlfriend, Stephanie Sibounheuang, before the shooting. It is alleged that Jones informed Trone and his son of the rapper's whereabouts and delivered an item recovered from his sedan shortly before the shooting. Jones also called Troun's phone number at the time of the murder, prosecutors allege. He pleaded not guilty to two counts of robbery and one count of conspiracy.

At the hearing Friday, Jones refused to agree to another pretrial delay, prompting the judge to order all parties back to court Monday to set an expedited trial date, possibly this month. With at least two lawyers in the case involved in other trials, the judge is expected to find “good cause” to delay the trial beyond mid-March, but will have to weigh the lawyers' schedules against Jones' right to face jury.

Another defendant in the case, Wynisha Evans, is accused of being an accessory after she allegedly drove Freddie Trone from Los Angeles to Las Vegas after the killing to help him escape a public manhunt, courts have heard. Evans was in court Friday and ordered to return March 12 for a scheduled plea deal.

As Rolling rock first report, authorities arrested Trone, his teenage son and his wife, Shauntel Trone, in late September 2022 after linking the alleged getaway car seen on surveillance video to a Buick Enclave found burned and abandoned a few blocks from Trones residence in Gardena, California. (Shauntel Trone was charged with being an accessory after the fact and pleaded not guilty.)

Allen's stunning daylight killing shocked the hip-hop industry and robbed the world of a talented rapper whose melodic flow straddled hip-hop and R&B. Rolling rock named him a new artist to know in 2016, and later rose to crossover fame with his 2019 feature on Ed Sheeran's “Cross Me.”