SAN DIEGO (CNS) - Rapper Boosie Badazz pleaded guilty Tuesday to a federal count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, which stemmed from a 2023 arrest while he was in San Diego to shoot a music video and perform at a Gaslamp Quarter nightclub.
The 42-year-old rapper, whose real name is Torence Ivy Hatch Jr., was arrested in the Chollas View neighborhood in May 2023 after police found two guns inside a vehicle he was riding in.
San Diego police said at the time that Hatch was spotted in a social media video with a gun in his waistband. Police then used a helicopter to track down his vehicle, after which officers conducted a traffic stop and discovered the firearms.
Hatch posted on X earlier this month about his intention to plead guilty.
"JUST ACCEPTED A PLEA FROM THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ON MY GUN CASE," he posted on Aug. 4. "I THOUGHT THIS CASE WAS OVER N I WAS GOING TO GET ON WITH MY LIFE BUT `GOD DON'T MAKE MISTAKES' N IM TIRED OF FIGHTING?? TALKED TO MY FAMILY N THIS IS THE RIGHT DECISION?? TO ALL MY FANS ACROSS THE WORLD SAY A PRAYER FOR YA BOY N GO GET THE NEW ALBUM."
Hatch was initially charged by the San Diego County District Attorney's Office. His defense attorneys have stated that Hatch intended to plead guilty in the state's case and was expected to be sentenced to probation, but the state's case was dismissed before that plea deal could be reached and federal prosecutors took up the case.
U.S. District Judge Cathy Bencivengo -- who is now slated to sentence Hatch in November -- dismissed the case against Hatch last year following a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that said it was unconstitutional to prohibit convicted felons who served sentences for nonviolent drug offenses from possessing firearms.
Hatch was previously convicted in Louisiana of marijuana possession. He was also indicted in an alleged murder-for-hire plot, but was acquitted by a Baton Rouge jury in 2012.
San Diego federal prosecutors re-filed the charges against Hatch a short time after the case was dismissed.
A larger panel of the 9th Circuit also overturned its earlier ruling, finding that banning felons from possessing firearms does not violate the Constitution.
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