Jury selection began Tuesday in the sexual assault trial of Bay Area rapper Sky Nathan Branklyn, known professionally as Sky Balla.
The 45-year-old faces two counts of sexual assault resulting in substantial bodily harm, three counts of sexual assault, and one count of battery by strangulation stemming from a 2021 incident at the Aria Resort & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip.
According to court documents, Sky Balla met the alleged victim at the Aria’s High Limit Lounge, where he ordered shots of tequila.
The woman’s next memory was of Sky Balla sexually assaulting her in a hotel room as she begged him to stop.
She told police he punched her in the face multiple times, knocking her unconscious.
When she woke up, she found vomit in her hair and blood covering her body. The injuries were severe enough to require surgery at University Medical Center.
Security initially told them the stains were from spilled wine, so the room was cleaned.
However, several housekeeping employees told police they were certain it was blood, not wine. Bloody towels had been disposed of before investigators could examine them.
According to News 8, Judge Bita Yeager issued an order the morning jury selection began that limits what jurors will hear about Branklyn’s past.
While prosecutors intended to show a pattern of violent sexual behavior, Yeager ruled that they could only present information about a 2008 sexual assault case for which Sky Balla served four years in prison.
In 2009, he pleaded guilty to rape by force and agreed to a six-year sentence with less than two years’ credit. Yeager found significant similarities between the 2008 case and the current allegations.
Both involved meeting at a bar, consuming alcohol, isolating the victims, and Sky Balla initially acting kind before turning aggressive and violent when his sexual advances were rejected.
In both cases, he covered their mouths, called them derogatory names, strangled them, hit them, and held them down.
When the women tried to escape, he chased them and continued the assaults.
Sky Balla posted $1 million bail after his Las Vegas arrest and was placed on high-level electronic monitoring. Yeager later reduced the monitoring to medium-level.