Morgan Cardelle Baker (left inset) in a Georgia Department of Corrections mug shot, (proper) Club Boss, where Tamarco Head was shot and killed (WGXA/screengrab)
A Georgia inmate convicted two years ago of murdering a nightclub security guard saw the conviction overturned on Tuesday since the Peach State’s best possible court ruled that a 33-second rap music video appearing him waving around a handgun shouldn’t were played for Houston County jurors.
Morgan Cardelle Baker, born in 1995, had argued through his attorneys at trial that Kobe Crawford’s — aka NoCap’s — rap music video for “Ghetto Angels” (a song viewed more than 100 million times on YouTube) should now not be played in courtroom. Still, the trial court determined the video “filmed in early 2019,” months sooner than Tamarco Head was shot to demise at Club Boss in Warner Robins on July 6, 2019, was “more probative than prejudicial” as to Baker. Baker went on to be sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in February 2022.
In a 5-2 choice on Tuesday, then again, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled that the decision on the proof was once an “error,” so Baker’s malice murder conviction used to be overturned.
“As defined below, we agree that the trial court’s admission of the video was an abuse of discretion. And since the State has not met its burden of showing that the error used to be harmless, we opposite Baker’s conviction,” the court.
The court docket famous that the music video in query was once entered into evidence over the objection of the defense, for the reason that video confirmed Baker waving around a gun and “once in a while pointing it on the digicam”:
On redirect, the prosecutor presented the 33-second-long portion of the rap music video, which the trial court admitted into proof over trial suggest’s renewed objection, and the prosecutor performed the video for the jury. The first few seconds of the video showed Baker waving a black handgun, pointing it at the digital camera, and motioning as if he used to be capturing the gun while 3 different males rapped and made hand gestures. The video then confirmed Baker, Crawford, and about a dozen different males making a song and dancing on and around a automotive; Baker waved the black handgun, occasionally pointing it on the digicam, while one of the vital men made hand gestures, held bottles of what appears to be alcohol, and brandished guns. In response to further questions from the prosecutor, [NoCap’s music manager Rodney] Dunn recognized Baker as one of the vital men who was once “flashing [a] firearm” and testified that even supposing Dunn did not condone weapons, he could not regulate whether Crawford’s entourage used weapons within the music video or whether they carried guns at the night of the shooting. The prosecutor then requested why Crawford “promot[ed]” gun violence in the video, and Dunn replied that Crawford was once now not promoting it and that Crawford used to be merely “a rapper.”
Again, over the defense’s objection, prosecutors asserted that the video was needed for id purposes and for connecting Baker — a detailed buddy and road manager — to Crawford, who performed on the nightclub within the early morning hours just prior to the fatal taking pictures.
The rap video wasn’t just performed in court. Prosecutors time and again pressed Baker all over cross-examination on why he used to be “promoting” gun violence in the video and whether his “entourage traveled with weapons”:
On cross-examination, Baker testified that he put his arm across the guy within the camouflage cap as they walked down the breezeway as a result of Baker was trying to “de-escalate the placement,” since the guy was still angry. The prosecutor requested whether or not the entourage traveled with weapons, and Baker spoke back, “Why would we, even though?” The prosecutor stated, “Well, let’s see why” after which performed the rap music video once more. In reaction to the prosecutor’s questions in regards to the video, Baker testified that he did not produce the video, that it was once about “shedding family members,” that he idea he had “a Glock” gun within the video, he did not know “what type” of Glock it used to be, it used to be no longer his gun, and he used it in the video as a result of he was “making an attempt to glance cool.” When the prosecutor asked why that made him “glance cool,” Baker replied, “[I]n the music industry in—in my age staff, you do whatever that you suppose will promote, such as if—if I used to be to—say I was a country music artist, I almost certainly don’t like cowboy hats or cowboy boots, but I will put on it if I feel it’s going to help my country music sell.” The prosecutor requested why Baker used to be “promoting” gun violence in the video, and he replied that he was now not selling it and was once “[j]ust attempting to be cool.” The prosecutor then rewound the video and paused it at a point the place it depicted Baker; she asked him if the shirt he was once wearing stated “Loyalty is Love,” and he responded that he didn't know. Later, the prosecutor referenced the picture appearing Baker on stage with Crawford, gesturing as if he was pointing a gun, and requested if Baker was once “[p]ortraying a shooter” “[j]ust like in the video we simply watched, with an actual gun?” Baker responded that he used to be “just making an attempt to be cool.”
Taken together, the Georgia Supreme Court discovered it couldn’t say the rap music video’s inclusion in proof didn’t sway the jury. Therefore, the courtroom stated, the “State has now not met its burden of showing that the mistake was once risk free.”
Read the verdict here.
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