Sacramento rapper Mozzy (born Timothy Cornell Patterson) has turned himself in to begin serving time for federal gun charges stemming from a 2018 traffic stop, in which he pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.
According to Complex, his care was referred to a local U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, and he pled guilty to the gun charge in January this year.
His lawyers requested a probation sentence, citing his ties to the local Sacramento community, but the call was rejected and he was sentenced to one year in federal prison. He is currently scheduled to be released from prison on July 23, 2023 (Complex).
Mozzy released his new album Survivor’s Guilt last week and it is his first album released in partnership with Yo Gotti’s Interscope imprint CMG.
“This case made me realize that everything I have accomplished and built can be taken away because of a single mistake or lapse in judgement,” wrote Mozzy in a letter sent to a local judge. “I once read that, ‘a stumble may prevent a fall.’ I believe this was my ‘stumble’ which will prevent me from taking a ‘fall’. I think I needed something like this to give a little more structure to my life.”
Complex
Two weeks ago, a jury in Los Angeles found Baton Rouge rapper NBA YoungBoy not guilty on felony gun possession.
The 22-year-old born Kentrell DeSean Gaulden, was facing 10 years in prison if convicted on those charges and he is currently facing an additional gun trial in Louisiana.
Read More: NBA YoungBoy Found Not Guilty In Gun Case, Avoiding Years In Prison
Lawyers for the rapper argued that YoungBoy had been unaware of an outstanding federal warrant and panicked when officers approached his vehicle in Los Angeles. He also allegedly didn’t know a weapon was in his car and there was no useable fingerprints or DNA linking Youngboy to the weapon (Stereogum).
Earlier this year, Los Angeles rapper and Leimert Park legend Dom Kennedy filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department, challenging the city’s current gun control laws.
The lawsuit alleges the current laws are unconstitutional and led to the rapper being arrested and charged for possession of a firearm.
In Mozzy’s letter to the judge prior to his sentencing, he mentioned the fact that the leading cause of death for rappers is by gun violence. He wrote that he felt compelled to carry a gun for protection so that he could be there for his family and daughters.
Kennedy’s lawsuit may become key in pushing for further protections of rappers, who continue to be prime targets for robberies and shootings due to their celebrity status. Many of these men have close ties to the streets and communities they come from, making them easily accessible than your average celebrity.
In 2019, Los Angeles rapper and businessman Nipsey Hussle (Ermias Asghedom) was gunned down in front of the property he had recently acquired on Slauson and Crenshaw. The strip mall lot housed his Marathon Clothing flagship store as well as several other businesses that he owned and operated.
“The City’s and the Board’s and LAPD’s unconstitutional ‘no-issue’ CCW policies (concealed weapons permit) and other unconstitutional gun control laws, which were officially adopted and promulgated by the City’s policymakers, caused [Dom Kennedy and Matthews] and the other members of the Arrest Class and the Nonresident Class to be arrested and detained merely for the permissible Second Amendment conduct of carrying a handgun for general self-defense outside the home or place of business.” Kennedy and Matthews’ suit against the LAPD also calls for the arrest and prosecution records of other citizens impacted by the city’s gun laws to be sealed.
Revolt
Read More: L.A. Rapper Dom Kennedy Sues LAPD Over “Unconstitutional” Gun Laws
