Casanova’s legal team has officially filed an appeal over the 15-year prison sentence he was handed down in late-June.
According to HotNewHipHop, Casanova’s lawyer James Kousouros mentioned that because the Brooklyn rapper (real name Caswell Senior) denounced his formal ties to the Gorilla Stone Nation gang, his sentence should be reduced.
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“The fact is that Mr. Senior stayed in this gang as it furthered his rap career,” Casanova’s lawyers said. “As he gained moderate success and then a recording contract with Roc Nation, he increasingly separated himself from the gang’s activities despite remaining a member.”
Casanova received 188 months or 15 years behind bars on June 27 from U.S. District Judge Philip M. Halpern. Included in the crimes he’s accused of are a shooting in Florida on July 5, 2020, a robbery in New York City on August 5, 2018 and conspiracy to traffic over 100 kilograms of marijuana.
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“Caswell Senior is not just a notorious recording artist, but he is also a high-profile leader of a vicious street gang and a magnet for gang violence,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a press release at the time. “At a crowded Miami house party, Senior personally fired a gun that seriously injured and could have killed a victim, inciting a shootout.”
He continued: “Further, Senior’s stature in the community was central to Gorilla Stone’s successful recruitment and nationwide expansion. Today’s sentencing — along with the other significant sentences that have been imposed in this case — shows once again that gang life is not worth it and will lead to many years in prison.”
Casanova was the 12th defendant in the Gorilla Stone case to have been sentenced. Five more defendants have pled guilty and are awaiting sentencing.
After he received the sentence he took to to Twitter and issued a short message, saying, “Everything to the chin, Nothing to the heart. I GET IT NOW. I hope that don’t go over ya heads.”
Prior to his sentencing, Cas was assaulted in a bloody prison altercation that took place at Essex County Correctional Facility in Newark, New Jersey in early June.
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According to NBC New York, Casanova was slashed in the face with an unknown weapon by another inmate on Thursday which resulted in him along with other inmates chasing him down.
Anthony Puglisi, who’s a spokesperson for Essex County Correctional Facility told the outlet at the time that: “This minor incident and whether weapons were employed is under investigation.”
