Pooh Shiesty

Pooh Shiesty, born Lontrell Donell Williams Jr., learned how long he’ll be behind bars today. Nearly a year after he was arrested on firearms charges, Shiesty was sentenced to 63 months — a little over five years — in prison according to Variety. It comes after he was indicted on four firearms charges in relation to a shooting incident that occurred in October 2020 at the Landon Hotel in Bay Harbor Islands, Florida. Williams later pled guilty to the charges after accepting a plea deal from prosecutors that reduced a possible life sentence to just 97 months in prison — a little over eight years in prison.

Shortly after Williams was arrested for the October 2020 incident, he was taken into custody once again, this time for a shooting incident that occurred at a Miami strip club during Memorial Day weekend. Variety reports that the outcome in that specific case is unknown at the moment. Williams’ plea deal in the October 2020 incident reduced his four firearms charges to just a single charge for conspiracy to possess a firearm in furtherance of violent and drug-trafficking crimes.

It’s unknown why Williams’ expected sentence of over eight years in prison was reduced to five years. Last month, it was reported that his lawyer was fighting the recommended eight-year sentence because “ballistics and forensic evidence” proved that Williams did not shoot the victim in the incident.

Pooh Shiesty is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Last year, Pooh Shiesty, born Lontrell Williams, was charged with discharging a firearm during a violent crime and robbery after he allegedly shot a man in the buttocks. During the incident, which occurred in October of 2020, the man, 28-year-old Brandon Cooper, was allegedly shot by Williams when they met up to exchange weed and sneakers. Cooper was later indicted with seven others for allegedly forging checks. After the indictment, Williams accepted a plea deal that helped the rapper avoid a life sentence, the prosecution and defense agreeing that eight years in jail would be a fitting sentence for Williams.

However, as per a new report from Rolling Stone, Williams’ lawyer Brad Cohen is now fighting against the recommended eight-year prison sentence. On Friday, Cohen filed paperwork that claimed “ballistics and forensic evidence” proved that Williams did not shoot Cooper in the buttocks. Cohen also argues that since his client pleaded guilty to only a single count of firearms conspiracy, it’s not fair that a pre-sentencing report submitted to the court suggests that he was involved in a “robbery/shooting.”

“The government wants this court to believe Mr. Williams, with a net worth of $3,449,446, planned a robbery, then committed a robbery, and then shot a known drug dealer who knew him well and could easily identify him,” court documents read. “All over a few hundred-dollar drug deal for personal use, while he was driving a lime green McLaren that he rented from the alleged victim.” It adds:

Mr. Williams possessed over $40,000 in cash and was driving a vehicle valued at over $200,000. It would be illogical for Mr. Williams to stage a robbery by two other individuals over something so minuscule as a bottle of liquid codeine with a retail value of a few hundred dollars, at most, when any damage done to the McLaren in the process would have cost thousands of dollars to repair.

Cohen notes that medical records show the bullet that struck Cooper “entered the left buttocks near the top of the muscle and exited at the lower part of the muscle” with “the angle being that of a downward slope.” As a result, Cooper believes that it “simply would have been impossible for the wound to occur with Mr. Williams being the shooter.”

Williams’ sentencing date is set for April 20.

Pooh Shiesty is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.