YoungBoy Never Broke Again

YoungBoy Never Broke Again (aka NBA YoungBoy; neé Kentrell Gaulden) has been on trial in Los Angeles on a federal gun possession charge this week. The case stems from an arrest in Los Angeles where a FN FNX .45 caliber pistol was found on the floor of the Mercedes Maybach that the “Late To Da Party” rapper was driving around in March of 2021. But today, NBA YoungBoy has been found not guilty of these federal gun charges.

The case saw some advancements this week that were both favorable for the Baton Rouge rapper’s not guilty ruling. First off, the lyrics to his songs like “Gunsmoke” and “Lonely Child” were deemed inadmissible in court. He mentions FNs in the music, which refers to the Fabrique Nationale Herstal maker of the pistol found in the car. YoungBoy’s defense successfully argued, “Even if Mr. Gaulden is familiar with various models of guns and sings about them, it does not mean that he knew this particular gun was secreted on the passenger floor of the Maybach when police attempted to pull his car over to arrest him.” Then, and more importantly, YoungBoy’s defense attorneys cited a lack of fingerprints on the pistol.

As Rolling Stone reports, it was in fact the aforementioned combination of factors that NBA YoungBoy’s attorney, Andre Belanger, cited in his closing arguments, along with the fact that the rapper wasn’t aware that the gun was in the car. He elaborated that it wasn’t just YoungBoy who had access to the car, there were no witnesses linking YoungBoy to the gun that day, and ultimately, that he had no intent to possess it.

“[NBA YoungBoy] was acquitted and walked out the courtroom saying he was never guilty of this,” Belanger told XXL. “I am grateful we could challenge what little evidence they had before 12 people. This verdict shows the power of a jury and the ability to check government power.”

Meanwhile, NBA YoungBoy still has to stand trial in Louisiana for a separate gun charge stemming from an arrest in September of 2020.

YoungBoy Never Broke Again is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

YoungBoy Never Broke Again is currently on trial for felony gun possession in Los Angeles after an FNX-45 handgun was found in his vehicle in March last year. According to Rolling Stone, his defense during yesterday’s session focused its efforts on the lack of evidence tying him to the gun — namely, the lack of usable fingerprints. An FBI Forensic Examiner, Icel Kuznetsova, admitted in her testimony that “no suitable latents” were found on the grip, magazine, or shell, but also noted that it isn’t unusual to not find prints due to a variety of factors.

In fact, she’s noted saying there’s “only about a 10 percent success rate” as a result of things like manufacturers adding “anti-moisture coating” to gun parts to help the weapons function more effectively. YoungBoy’s defense attorney also used some of the other items recovered from the car to suggest that the Baton Rouge rapper may not have been the only person to use the car, which would support his insistence that the gun in question isn’t his and he didn’t know it was in the vehicle, to begin with. The prosecution pointed out that his name is on the vehicle’s lease, and many of his personal items, such as jewelry, IDs, and bank cards, were in the vehicle — suggesting that he was the main or only person using it since you normally wouldn’t leave such important info around just anyone.

The prosecution suffered a blow from the outset of the trial, when the judge, R. Gary Klausner, ruled that YoungBoy’s lyrics showing knowledge of the gun’s brand, FN, couldn’t be used as evidence. Should YoungBoy be convicted, he could spend years in prison. At the conclusion of this trial, he also faces another gun possession trial in Louisiana for another incident in which he and 15 others were arrested after allegedly flashing weapons during a video shoot.