MANHATTAN — Bobby Shmurda will spend seven years in prison following a plea deal with prosecutors — but the East Flatbush rapper wants the world to know he was “forced” to take the sentence.
At a Manhattan courthouse on Wednesday, 22-year-old Shmurda — whose real name is Ackquille Pollard — shook his head as his attorney Alex Spiro went over the agreement that would give him seven years in exchange for a guilty plea on conspiracy and weapons charges.
“Take it back,” the rapper said aloud. “I don’t want the plea.”
Spiro asked Judge Abraham Clott for an adjournment on the sentencing, but the judge nonetheless moved ahead with the pre-arranged agreement. Under the deal, Shmurda will serve seven years in an upstate prison and have five years of post-release supervision.
Upon sentencing, Clott asked Shmurda if he wanted to say anything on his own behalf.
“I was forced to take this sentence. I do not want to take this sentence,” he said, dressed in a white T-shirt, orange pants and thin gold chain.
Previously, Shmurda had pleaded guilty to charges in a Sept. 9 court hearing, records show, which included a series of questions ensuring a defendant is not pleading guilty against his or her will. Given that agreement, Clott said he would move ahead with sentencing despite Shmurda's objection.
After the sentencing, Shmurda’s mother, Leslie Pollard, echoed her son’s claims, saying Spiro had originally told the family he could beat the case at trial.
“After we made payment, that’s when we were told we don’t have a leg to stand on in the courtroom,” she said, speaking to reporters with her sister and a family friend.
Spiro would not answer questions from reporters after the hearing on Wednesday.
Leslie Pollard, mother of Bobby Shmurda, speaks to reporters outside Manhattan Criminal Court surrounded by her sister, Cherie Williams, at right, and family friend Allen DeWane, left. (DNAinfo/Rachel Holliday Smith)
“It’s a bunch of lies on top of lies,” she added. “The judge doesn’t want to hear what Ackquille says.”
Shmurda has been in custody on $2 million bail since his December 2014 arrest on conspiracy, gun and drug charges in connection to the GS9 street gang in East Flatbush.
Several of other members of GS9 who also took plea deals were set to be sentenced on Wednesday, including Chad Marshall, a fellow rapper who goes by the name Rowdy Rebel, but their cases were adjourned, according to prosecutors.
