XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, sac.politics, soc.culture.african.american   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns   
   From: fxk@gmail.com   
      
   On 04 Nov 2021, Trump 2020  posted some   
   news:sm17pl$bhh$78@news.dns-netz.com:   
      
   > Susan Cohen wrote   
   >   
   >>   
   >> No it's not prejudicial, you assholes.  He's a fucking nigger rapper   
   >> and a criminal.   
      
   An appellate court in Riverside, California, overturned the murder   
   conviction of a man who was sentenced to 129 years to life in prison,   
   ruling in part that the use of a rap video as evidence in this case   
   violates the state's new "Decriminalizing Artistic Expression Act" – a   
   landmark law, which was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sept. 31, 2022.   
      
   Travon Rashan Venable, Sr., was convicted of first degree murder and   
   attempted murder in connection to a 2014 drive-by shooting. He pleaded not   
   guilty.   
      
   According to court documents obtained by ABC News, prosecutors alleged   
   that Venable and a fellow gang member were involved in a drive-by   
   shooting. Venable was accused of driving the car while his co-defendant   
   fired shots.   
      
   The appellate court judge ruled in a Feb. 17 opinion obtained by ABC News   
   that the "admission of the rap video without the new safeguards was   
   prejudicial to Venable" and the prosecution's emphasis on the rap video   
   during the trial "likely had an effect on the outcome."   
      
   The court ruled that although the law wasn't in effect during Venable's   
   trial, it applies retroactively to cases that are not final and under   
   appeal.   
      
   The court reversed the conviction and remanded Venable’s case for a new   
   trial.   
      
   The ruling came after the California Supreme Court transferred the case   
   back to the appellate court to reconsider the case in light of the new   
   law.   
      
   Jacquelyn Rodriguez, the public affairs officer for the San Bernardino   
   District Attorney's office, which prosecuted this case, told ABC News on   
   Wednesday that Venable's case is "the first case in the state that has   
   been reversed due to the new law."   
      
   "Right now we're in a waiting phase to see if the appellate court will   
   give jurisdiction back to us," she added.   
      
   The video   
   According to court documents obtained by ABC News, prosecutors introduced   
   a YouTube video found by police where Venable and other members of the   
   California Gardens gang are seen "flashing gang signs" and displaying   
   "guns, drugs, and money."   
      
   Prosecutors alleged that a rap in the video, "Got word from a bird[] that   
   they did that [racial slur] dead wrong/Slid up Medical and left that   
   [racial slur] head gone," was boasting about the drive-by shooting, but   
   according to court documents, Venable didn’t say anything in the video.   
      
   “Nothing in the song indicates the rapper or others in the video had   
   personal knowledge or involvement in the shooting, only that they had   
   heard about it,” the court’s opinion said.   
      
   In the ruling the court pointed to testimony from a gang expert who   
   testified that the gang as a whole took credit for the shooting.   
      
   "There is substantial doubt whether the trial judge would have admitted   
   the video evidence under the new standard, and it's clear the prosecution   
   used that evidence to tie Venable to the specific crime. The remaining   
   evidence of Venable's involvement was not strong," the court wrote in the   
   opinion, pointing to testimony from Venable's aunt who provided him with   
   an alibi and testimony from "a police informant who gave a series of   
   conflicting accounts of the incident and had testified Venable was being   
   framed."   
      
   Venable's attorney Jim Gass, who objected to the inclusion of the rap   
   video as evidence, told ABC News in a statement on Wednesday "this is the   
   type of case that created the need for the new evidence code regarding rap   
   lyrics."   
      
   "The conviction was overturned because the appellate court could see that   
   there was very little evidence against Venable other than the video," he   
   added.   
      
   The new law   
   The California law, which was dubbed the "rap lyrics bill," became the   
   state's Evidence Code section 352.2 and seeks to ensure that "creative   
   expression will not be used to introduce stereotypes or activate bias   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)