Casanova will not be going home early, despite his recent motion for a compassionate release from a federal prison in New Jersey.
According to a report from TMZ on Friday (December 1), a judge denied the rapper’s plea for early end to his incarceration on the basis that he had already received a sentence at the “bottom of the sentencing range.” The judge also cited the fact that Cas has yet to even serve 20 percent of it.
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In his letter to the judge, he admitted his part in the crimes he’d been accused of and noted he’d distanced himself from the Gorilla Stone Nation gang – but clearly that didn’t work.
According to the outlet, the judge said the Roc Nation rapper hasn’t proven he’s no longer a danger to anyone in the community and his 15-year sentence will be upheld.
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Casanova was one of 18 people charged in a racketeering case that involved drug dealing and murder, among others crimes. His punishment was based largely around a 2018 incident wherein he allegedly assaulted a woman for taking a video of him at a diner.
The 36-year-old is said to have violently snatched Niya Rucker’s cellphone and then deleted footage of himself from it after she recorded him without consent. For that, he was slapped with two counts of felony robbery, which his legal team is now disputing because the victim left the restaurant with her phone.
In August, Casanova and his lawyer made their bid for an early release on grounds of “extraordinary acceptance of responsibility,” asserting that the outcome of the rapper’s actions does not align with the legal definition of “robbery.” While he has not denied the claims made against him, he does believe that the ramifications do not fairly match his the crime.
Casanova received 188 months behind bars from U.S. District Judge Philip M. Halpern in June, with the judge calling him a “high-profile leader of a vicious street gang.”
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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 a crowded Miami house party, Senior personally fired a gun that seriously injured and could have killed a victim, inciting a shootout. Further, Senior’s stature in the community was central to Gorilla Stone’s successful recruitment and nationwide expansion.”
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He added: “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 has since severed ties with the Untouchable Gorilla Stone Nation Bloods Gang.
