Hamasaki Law in the News
By now, you almost certainly know how the Drakeo saga went down. Born Darrell Caldwell, Drakeo The Ruler emerged as a shockingly original songwriter with vibrant slang and steely delivery. As Drakeo ascended with his collaborators, a crew called the Stinc Team, he became an obsession of LA County Deputy Sheriff Francis Hardiman.
In 2017, Drakeo and the rest of the Stinc Team were hauled in on bogus charges. Hardiman’s office thirstily tried to pin a 2016 murder on Drakeo based on his rap lyrics, Instagram posts and music videos. Drakeo was fully acquitted, but remained in solitary confinement while awaiting a retrial for the same charge he just beat. In short, he was the human consequence of a brazen and prideful prosecution, and the hottest rising rapper in the storied LA hip-hop universe was struck with a literal gag order.
With the help of a spirited legal team and a lot of media coverage, Drakeo was able to beat the gang enhancement case again and regain his freedom. His plea deal was delivered the very night that incumbent DA Jackie Lacy was voted out of office. It’s all really messed up, and it serves as some bizarre triple-beam referendum on our explosive cultural moment, our decrepit criminal justice system and the anti-Blackness that still infests our city. Right now, Drakeo is out of jail…and he’s already dropped two mixtapes to critical acclaim. But none of this was supposed to happen in the first place.
KNOCK spoke with criminal defense attorney John Hamasaki, whose tireless work helped the #FREEDRAKEO push become a reality. We talked about Drakeo’s trial, its many cultural implications and the uphill battle for policy change in Los Angeles...
A Right-Wing Brawler Asked a Court to Protect Him From an Antifascist’s Tweets
The Intercept
November 10, 2021
For two months now, the animosity between right-wing activists and left-wing antifascists, which regularly leads to violence at street protests, has played out in a setting where physical combat is not allowed: the Los Angeles Superior Court in Torrance, California.
The legal battle began on September 3 when Adam Kiefer, a far-right activist, obtained a temporary restraining order against Chad Loder, an antifascist researcher who tweeted evidence that Kiefer was at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., during the January 6 riot.
Kiefer, 28, is a trucker from Riverside County, California, who has become a fixture at Proud Boys rallies and thrown punches at far-right protests against vaccine mandates and Black Lives Matter. Loder, 45, is a tech company founder and cybersecurity expert from Los Angeles who posts meticulous, open-source investigations of local right-wing extremists on a Twitter feed with more than 100,000 followers...
Why Drakeo the Ruler's Legal Battle Should Concern Us All
VICE
December 2, 2020
On November 4, 2020, Darrell Caldwell, best known as Drakeo the Ruler, was freed from Los Angeles County’s Men’s Central Jail. It was a sudden turn of events: his release followed the first day of resumed trial proceedings, prolonged by an aggressive prosecution and COVID-19 delays. Drakeo provided the following statement to VICE via his publicist: "We know the Truth. The truth is undisputed. #DrakeoFree."
Yesterday, on December 1, Drakeo released We Know the Truth, an album recorded shortly after his release. The album features longtime collaborators Ketchy the Great, Rio Da Yung OG, and Ralfy the Plug, and high profile verses from Tee Grizzly and Lil Yachty. Across 18 tracks, Drakeo tells his story, drawing from hundreds of pages of material written while he was incarcerated.
In 2017, Drakeo was arrested for murder, attempted murder, and conspiracy to commit murder, relating to a 2016 shooting at a party in Carson, California, that left one dead and two wounded. The prosecution did not accuse Drakeo of pulling a trigger, but alleged that he orchestrated and provided the weapons to murder a rival rapper, who did not attend the Carson party and was not injured.
Yesterday, on December 1, Drakeo released We Know the Truth, an album recorded shortly after his release. The album features longtime collaborators Ketchy the Great, Rio Da Yung OG, and Ralfy the Plug, and high profile verses from Tee Grizzly and Lil Yachty. Across 18 tracks, Drakeo tells his story, drawing from hundreds of pages of material written while he was incarcerated.
In 2017, Drakeo was arrested for murder, attempted murder, and conspiracy to commit murder, relating to a 2016 shooting at a party in Carson, California, that left one dead and two wounded. The prosecution did not accuse Drakeo of pulling a trigger, but alleged that he orchestrated and provided the weapons to murder a rival rapper, who did not attend the Carson party and was not injured.
"It really makes no sense, logically, from a criminal justice perspective," Hamasaki said regarding the pressure the District Attorney's office exerted on his client and the Stinc team. As for the group's classification as a gang, "their main crime was making music, videos, and raps. And those raps were offensive to the [lead] detective."
Meet Tiny Doo, the rapper facing life in prison for making an album
The Guardian
December 3, 2014
As rappers go, Brandon Duncan’s approach is not unusual: his lyrics reflect the violent reality of the streets. But in the pantheon of rappers who have had run-ins with the courts, Tiny Doo looms large. Despite his lack of a criminal record, Duncan stands accused of nine counts of participating in a “criminal street gang conspiracy”, charges that could land him in prison for life.
But Duncan is not charged with participating in any of the crimes underlying the conspiracy, or even agreeing to them. Rather, he’s effectively on trial for making a rap album.
While details are sparse and the evidence presented against Duncan thus far is reportedly thin, prosecutors appear to be operating on the premise that criminal activity by others, mentioned in Duncan’s lyrics, benefits sales of his album No Safety. “We’re not just talking about a CD of anything, of love songs,” Deputy District Attorney Anthony Campagna argued to the court at Duncan’s preliminary hearing this month.
The San Diego County district attorney’s office declined to comment on the case to the Guardian, instead pointing to comments by the gangs division chief prosecutor, Dana Greisen, asserting: “Rap music, it’s just another form of communication that gang members use” in furtherance of their crimes.
Putting a musician on trial for his lyrics is antithetical to Americans’ free speech rights, and quite possibly unconstitutional. What’s more, the “criminal street gang conspiracy” law that Duncan is charged with violating – part of an anti-gang initiative package passed by California voters in 2000 – stands in marked contrast to conspiracy as California has traditionally defined it.
Ordinarily, to be guilty of conspiracy in California an individual must agree with another person to commit a crime, then at least one of them must take action to further that conspiracy. The charge Duncan faces requires no such agreement: so long as prosecutors can show that Duncan is an active member of the gang and knows about its general criminal activity, past or present, he can be convicted for benefiting from its acts.