On Tuesday (Jan. 21) a judge rejected rapper Tekashi69’s request to serve the remainder of his two-year jail sentence on house arrest.
The judge ruled that the Brooklyn rapper’s crimes were too serious to merit leniency, as the NY Daily News reports.
In a court filing last week, Tekashi argued that his unique status as a celebrity and cooperating witness makes it difficult to serve time on racketeering charges.
The rapper, whose given name is Daniel Hernandez, is currently being held at an undisclosed private prison to ensure his safety.
“The Court recognizes that, as a result of security and related considerations that have resulted in his placement in a private jail, Mr. Hernandez, while incarcerated, may not have the same access to rehabilitative opportunities and programs as other Bureau of Prisons inmates,” Judge Paul Engelmayer wrote in a two-page decision.
“The Court was mindful of this in fashioning Mr. Hernandez’s 24-month sentence,” Engelmayer continued.
During the trial of his two former friends in the Nine Trey Bloods, Tekashi testified for the government. The rapper began cooperating following his guilty plea of racketeering charges that carried a minimum of 47 years behind bars.
Tekashi did so in hopes that his testimony would garner him a sentence of time served while he awaited trial, which included isolation for a year.
However, Engelmayer served the rapper a two-year sentence on the ground that his crimes were too serious to warrant such lenient treatment. This summer, Tekashi69 is expected to be released from prison.
