YFN Lucci has been sentenced for his role in the RICO case against his YFN collective, but he took the time to issue an apology to both his family and to the family of murder victim James Adams.
In footage from his fateful court hearing on Tuesday (January 23), the Atlanta rapper addressed the room shortly before receiving his sentence.
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Lucci referred to Adams as his “friend” and also expressed remorse for the stress he put his family through.
“First off, I wanna say my heart goes out to my friend, James Adams, and his family,” Lucci said. “Also, I wanna apologize to my family and my friends for putting them through this stressful process. I would also like to apologize to the court. That’s it.”
Check out the apology below.
YFN Lucci apologizes to murder victim's family in court footage pic.twitter.com/WpPm9PqFQG
— HipHopDX (@HipHopDX) January 24, 2024
YFN Lucci was sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of violation of the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act.
However, he is expected to serve just four months of that sentence in prison when he becomes eligible for parole. It was initially reported that his plea deal involved spending 10 years behind bars and another 10 on probation.
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Before pleading guilty, the 32-year-old was facing numerous felony charges, including murder, which carried a maximum sentence of life without parole.
In a statement to ABC News, Lucci’s legal team said: “After three years of pretrial litigation, more than two weeks of jury selection, and three years of incarceration waiting for his jury trial, today, the prosecution finally relented and dismissed the murder and RICO charges against Rayshawn Bennett.”
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Lucci’s attorney, Drew Findling, subsequently made clear that his client will not be testifying in Young Thug’s YSL RICO case.
The “Everyday We Lit” rapper was among a dozen suspects indicted in a sprawling 105-count racketeering indictment against his YFN collective, which prosecutors allege is a faction of the Bloods gang.
Lucci was initially arrested over a December 2020 shooting in Atlanta that killed 28-year-old James Adams and injured another man. Prosecutors told the judge during the trial that he was the driver and didn’t fire the deadly shots.
The indictment, which was filed while Lucci was out on bond, brought a whole host of other charges against him including racketeering, violating Georgia’s anti-gang law, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
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Lucci was previously offered a plea deal by prosecutors last year which would’ve seen him serve 17 years of a 20-year prison sentence.
The rapper rejected it, with his legal team telling TMZ they found the deal to be “absurd.”
