COMPTON, Calif. (AP) — A Los Angeles County jury on Wednesday found a 17-year-old son Rapper PnB Kills Rock.
After deliberating for about four hours, the jury found 42-year-old Freddie Trone guilty of one count of murder, two counts of robbery and one count of conspiracy to rob.
During the two-week trial, the parties argued that the boy walked into Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles in South Los Angeles in September 2022 and Shot a Philadelphia hip-hop star He was dining with the mother of his four-year-old daughter when the man robbed him of his jewelry.
The prosecution argued that Trone was acting on his father’s orders, but the defense argued that he was merely an accomplice after the fact.
The 19-year-old has been charged with murder but is being held in juvenile detention and a judge has ruled he is not currently competent to stand trial.
The Associated Press typically does not publish the names of minors accused of crimes.
Another man, Tremont Jones, was convicted Wednesday of two counts of robbery and one count of conspiracy. Jones was not charged with murder.
Jones’ lawyer, David Haas, said he plans to appeal, while Trone’s lawyer, Winston McKesson, said he plans to file a motion for new conviction.
“No evidence was presented that he conspired to commit murder,” McKesson told The Associated Press after the verdict. “There’s no evidence that they discussed murder, there’s no evidence that they discussed a gun.”
He added: “There is no evidence that he gave his son a gun or told him to shoot the man. The only evidence the jury found is that he dropped his son off and picked him up.”
PnB Rock (real name Rakim Allen), a Philadelphia rapper best known for his 2016 hit “Selfish,” as well as guest appearances on other artists’ songs, including YFN Lucci’s “Everyday We Lit” and Ed Sheeran and Chance the Rapper’s “Cross Me.” He was 30 years old.
The defense took the unusual and risky move of calling Trong to the stand, but he vehemently denied any involvement in encouraging the killing.
“I had nothing to do with it,” Trone testified Monday. “I wasn’t there. I didn’t tell anybody not to do anything. I didn’t give anybody a gun.”
On the witness stand, Trone acknowledged the crime was “heinous” and that his son was “dangerous.”
Assistant District Attorney Timothy Richardson addressed both points in closing arguments, saying, “But would you put your 17-year-old son through this knowing the problems he was having?”
Judge Richardson stressed to the jury that even someone who did not fire a gun can be found guilty of felony murder if they were a “key participant” who acted with “reckless indifference to human life.”
Video showed Trone in the restaurant’s parking lot about 30 minutes before the killing, where he testified he was there to solicit customers from a nearby hair salon.
Richardson showed security camera footage of Jones fist-bumping with Allen, who had expensive jewelry on his arm, and prosecutors said Jones then tipped off Trone about the rapper’s presence and the jewelry.
