One of the four individuals charged in the tragic shooting of rapper Pop Smoke in Hollywood Hills stepped up and pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter on Wednesday.
According to CBS News, Corey Walker, 24, also admitted to two counts of home-invasion robbery tied to the February 19, 2020, incident that took the life of the New York rapper, born Bashar Jackson. Originally hit with a murder charge that could’ve landed him a life sentence without parole, Walker is now looking at a maximum of 29 years in state prison when he gets sentenced on February 21.
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Walker was just 19 when the shooting went down, while another defendant, Keandre Rodgers, was 22. The other two defendants in the case were minors. Rodgers was also hit with a murder charge initially, and both he and Walker faced special allegations that could have put them in the running for the death penalty.
About a year after the charges were filed, Los Angeles prosecutors decided not to pursue the death penalty for Walker.
The two teens involved in the case, who were 17 and 15 when charges were brought in July 2020, both owned up to their parts in the crime.
Pop Smoke was in L.A. for a four-day trip, staying at a rental in the Hollywood Hills when the two teens and two men broke in while he was taking a shower. They discovered his location from a photo he posted on Instagram, as reported by the Los Angeles Times, which detailed the then-15-year-old’s involvement in the deadly incident.
He reportedly pistol-whipped Jackson and shot him three times before the group took off. In May 2023, he admitted to first-degree murder in juvenile court and is expected to stay in a juvenile facility until he’s 25.
Meanwhile, the other defendant, who was 17 at the time, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and home invasion robbery in an Inglewood juvenile court in April 2023. He received a sentence of four years and two months in a juvenile facility.
A detective testified that the masked robbers made off with Jackson’s diamond-studded Rolex and sold it for just $2,000, according to the Associated Press.
