EXCLUSIVE: Chicago Rapper D. Rose Loses Appeal Of Murder Conviction

(AllHipHop News) Chicago Rapper D. Rosee just lost an appeal over his 2016 conviction for murder.

D. Rose, born Ahbir Sardin, was accused of participating in a drive-by shooting that took the life of 14-year-old named Venzel Richardson in 2014.

Police claimed D. Rose, who was 17-years-old at the time of the shooting, killed Richardson on February 12, 2014.

The cops say he rolled up on the Dunbar High School freshman in a white minivan and shot at him and his friends multiple times, fatally injuring Richardson, who died on the street.

In February of 2017, D. Rose was sentenced to 40 years in prison for his role in the crime.

However, D. Rose decided to appeal the conviction, claiming the trial court erred by overruling defense objections to the State’s introduction of the names and nicknames of two local rappers.

Those rappers are Clint Massey, aka Rondonumbanine, and Courtney Ealy, also known as C-Dai.

Back in 2016 just before D. Rose’s trial, Chief Keef’s associate RondoNumbaNine and Courtney “C-Dai” Ealy were found guilty of first-degree murder for the slaying of a 29-year-old cab driver named Javan Boyd.

They were both sentenced to almost 40 years in prison for killing Boyd in a case of mistaken identity, after seeking out rivals they fought with at a party earlier in the night.

Unfortunately for D. Rose, Judge Thomas V. Gainer just shot down his hope for a new trial because the jury was allowed to hear testimony about RondoNumbaNine and C Dai.

“The two rappers were relevant to the course of the police investigation of this offense because, the day before, they and defendant were stopped by the police in a van that witnesses identified as the same type of vehicle used in this drive-by shooting,” Judge Thomas V. Gainer wrote in his final opinion.

D. Rose argued that testimony relating to his affiliation with the drill rappers was unfairly prejudicial, primarily due to their unrelated and murder convictions.

Judge Thomas V. Gainer, Jr disagreed in his opinion, which was filed last week.

“The connection could only have been possibly prejudicial if a juror had both heard of, and recalled the convictions from six months earlier. Even if we accepted defendant’s contention that there were articles and publicity, we could not find the type of saturation that would preclude a fair trial, in the absence of evidence of juror knowledge,” Judge Gainer concluded.

D. Rose will continue to serve his 40-year sentence for the murder of Venzel Richardson.