The only adult charged in the murder of rapper Pop Smoke will go to trial next year.
Corey Walker, along with three minors, were allegedly involved in killing the Dior singer, whose real name is Bashar Barakah Jackson, in a Hollywood Hills home invasion robbery on February 19, 2020.
Walker, 23, has pleaded not guilty to one count of murder, two counts of robbery, and one count of burglary.
His next court date is a pretrial on October 11 with trial scheduled to begin on January 14, 2025.
Kellen Davis, a lawyer for Walker, told Newsweek on Tuesday that his initial August trial date did not happen after a disposition fell through from the higher-ups in the District Attorney’s office. A disposition refers to a potential settlement, plea deal, or resolution.
Davis added a disposition is possible going forward but now seems unlikely.
Rapper Pop Smoke attend the Off-White Menswear Fall/Winter 2020-2021 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on January 15, 2020 in Paris, France.
Getty Images
Pop Smoke, 20, was a rising star when his ski mask-wearing killers broke into the AirBnb and confronted him while he was in the shower.
One attacker, a 15-year-old boy, allegedly pistol-whipped the rapper and shot him three times in the back. The attackers stole Pop Smoker’s diamond-studded Rolex watch and sold it for $2,000, detectives said.
The rapper was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center where doctors performed a thoracotomy on the left side of his chest but he ultimately died a few hours later.
LAPD detective Christian Carrasco said in his 2021 testimony that an unnamed woman reported that the intruders had put a gun to her head and asked if she wanted to die. Ameliia Rose claims to be the woman in the house with Pop Smoke at the time of his death.
On the fourth anniversary of Pop Smoke’s murder, Rose wrote on Instagram,” February 19, 2020 the worst night of my life..I will never forget your smile when you turned on the movie Hitch..I will never forget how scared we were that night when we looked into each other’s eyes and realized that we were about to be killed.”
“I remember what I thought at that moment (am I really going to die and my mother will never see me again) God gave me a second chance ..that’s 4 years of depression 4 years were so hard. But I thank God for life. I will never forget you.. you will forever be in my heart,” she added.
In May 2021, an attacker, presumably the 15-year-old, allegedly admitted to killing Pop Smoke in a recorded interview with a cellmate at a juvenile detention center. He was released from the Secure Youth Treatment Facility in California on what appeared to be his 21st birthday.
The second juvenile, 16 at the time, settled his case and also went to juvenile lockup, Rolling Stone previously reported. The third, a 17-year-old at the time, admitted to voluntary manslaughter and home invasion robbery at an April 2023 hearing.
Davis tells Newsweek that he understands the incarcerated juveniles are close to release.
Pop Smoke posthumously earned his first No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon. His songs Dior, What You Know Bout Love, and For The Night all have over 1 billion streams on Spotify.
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