Pop Smoke Murder: Final Defendant's Trial Delayed After Plea Negotiations Collapse

The only adult The defendant accused of killing rising rapper Pop Smoke in 2020 appeared in a Los Angeles courtroom Friday and his trial date was pushed back to early August after negotiations with prosecutors broke down. Corey Walker's trial was scheduled to begin next week.

“Negotiations have broken down, but there's still a chance we can reach an agreement,” says attorney Deion Benjamin, who represents Walker with co-counsel Kellen Davis. Rolling rock. “Some things need to be clarified. If they are not resolved, we will go to trial.” The trial, now scheduled to begin with jury selection on August 6, is expected to last three and a half weeks.

At a hearing in May, Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Hilary Williams told the court that a deal from prosecutors was in the final stages. “We are very close to a disposition in the case at this point. I received some information from my office asking the court, before we go to the final appeal, to take a little more time,” Williams said last month. Details of the agreement were not released. Williams declined to comment Friday.

Walker, 23, pleaded not guilty to one count of murder, two counts of robbery and one count of burglary. When prosecutors first announced his charges four years ago under a previous prosecutor, they said that because Pop Smoke was fatally shot during an alleged robbery, Walker would are entitled to the death penalty. (New DA George Gascón later instituted a no-death-penalty policy.) If convicted as charged at trial, Walker could be sentenced to life in prison.

Three other defendants, including the 15-year-old shooter, were charged as juveniles. The Teenage Trigger was accepted in May In 2023, he shot and killed “Dior” rapper, born Bashar Baraka Jackson, during a home robbery at around 4am. on February 19, 2020. The oldest of the juveniles, then 17, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and home invasion robbery at a hearing in April 2023. The third juvenile, then 16, also settled his case and was sent to a facility post-conviction juvenile housing, a source confirmed to Rolling rock. The three are expected to be held until they turn 25.

Walker was 19 at the time of the murder. Prosecutors said he “facilitated the crimes not only by surveilling the crime scene before the crimes were committed, but by serving as the investigator, getaway driver, weapons provider and planner of this home invasion robbery.” Walker's previous defense attorney, Christopher Darden, disagreed, arguing in court filings obtained by Rolling rock that Walker “did not plan this crime” and, in the “worst case scenario,” was only the driver who “remained outside sitting in the driver's seat” of the getaway car.

According to police and prosecutors, the juvenile defendants, some wearing ski masks, climbed onto an outdoor balcony and broke into the upstairs bedroom of the Airbnb rental home where Jackson was showering. Prosecutors allege Walker was communicating with the juveniles via cell phone during the incident that ended with Jackson being pistol-whipped and shot three times in the back with a Beretta 9mm semi-automatic handgun.

A police detective testified at a preliminary hearing that a Google account linked to Walker searched the rental home before the murder and then searched for “Rolex oyster perpetual datejust” at 5:15 a.m., less than an hour later. the first call to 911. Prosecutors allege the robbers stole Jackson's diamond-encrusted Rolex and eventually sold it for $2,000.

In his failed motion to have Walker's murder dismissed, Darden argued that his former client was “not significantly involved” in the fatal shooting. “It is clear from the evidence that [Walker] he did not enter the home, was not armed, and did not personally kill the victim. Furthermore, the evidence is clear that the defendant did not share the killer's true intent to kill,” Darden wrote in his October 2021 filing.

“The defendant knew a gun was being used,” but “was careful to insist” that “if the suspects needed to defend themselves, they should use a flower vase instead of shooting someone,” Darden wrote. . “Only after the robbers left the house and re-entered the vehicle [Walker] learned of the shooting. In response, [Walker] attacked the shooter.”

Prosecutors said Walker and his accomplices planned the home invasion to steal the cash, thick gold chain and diamond watch that Jackson, 20, had flashed on social media a day earlier. The robbers reportedly found the home because Jackson posted a photo of a gift bag with the address on a tag.

“My client is remorseful and lives with the trauma every day and struggles to atone for his actions that landed him in prison,” Theida Salazar, the 15-year-old's defense attorney, said recently. Rolling rock. “He was born in custody to an incarcerated mother and raised in a community that forced him to identify and associate with gangs.” Salazar said his client “takes responsibility for his actions and vows not to repeat them.”

The lawyer called Jackson's killing a “tragic” end for such a young man and promising artist. “Mr. Jackson was poised to make a global impact,” Salazar said. “There is no way to measure the heights he could have reached and cannot replace him or his contribution to the arts.”