NBA YoungBoy

The federal firearms case against Louisiana rapper YoungBoy Never Broke Again — NBA YoungBoy for short — has suffered a blow as a judge dismissed photographic evidence against the rapper due to questions about how it was obtained. YoungBoy’s legal team had filed a motion to suppress the evidence, an SD card containing both photos and evidence of YoungBoy brandishing firearms — which the rapper can’t do as a convicted felon. XXL magazine initially reported the development in the case via court documents seen by XXL’s reporter.

Baton Rouge police arrested YoungBoy, along with several others, after responding to a call that “a group of people was on Chippewa Street carrying firearms and filming a rap music video” in September of 2020. YoungBoy’s lawyers argued that the officer who applied for the search warrants issued for several vehicles that fled the arrest used “falsehoods” and omitted information in his applications. As the SD card and a firearm were found in an Acura belonging to YoungBoy’s cameraman behind those warrants, the judge presiding over the case granted YoungBoy’s motion to suppress the evidence on the grounds that the warrant only covered the search of the vehicles, not the camera or SD cards.

However, the judge refused the motion to dismiss the firearm itself. Authorities will have to successfully argue that YoungBoy possessed the weapon at the time of arrest without the help of the photos that allegedly prove it. That doesn’t mean the rapper is completely off the hook, though; he still faces similar charges in Los Angeles for a separate arrest in 2021. The troubled rapper’s home was also raided earlier this year.