Foogiano’s Five Year Prison Sentence

July 15, 2021 | By wpengine

This blog is about rapper Foogiano and the five-year prison sentence he received yesterday. We don’t have access to the official court documents right now so we are kind of basing this off grassroots level information.

There is a lot of talk about him getting five years for removing an ankle monitor or something like that. Reports also indicate, however, that he had a possession of a firearm by a convicted felon charge as well. And from our perspective, as criminal defense attorneys here in Georgia, I think that the firearm by convicted felon charge is what likely led to the five-year prison sentence.

Recently, there was a case in Georgia that deals with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Everybody knows that felons can’t possess firearms, right? Historically, the punishment has varied. The judge could give you certain sentence probation, prison, whatever. There is a recent case out of Coweta County that is being appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court. And the reason that that is so important is that that case says that if you’re a felon because of some sort of forcible felony, that anytime you are convicted for possessing a firearm, you have to get five years in prison. No probation, nothing, five years straight, you got to serve all five years. (The Coweta County prosecutors are responsible for this ridiculous state of affairs as we speak. They actually wasted taxpayer money to take the time to appeal a ruling that gave a defendant less time on this charge).

So there are reports that Foogiano had a burglary conviction. Burglary is considered a forcible felony in Georgia. And that could provide big problems for Foogiano if he was in fact convicted yesterday, of firearm by a convicted felon, whether he pled guilty or was or was convicted by a jury, then the court would have had no choice but to sentence him to five years per this new case, Langley v. State, that came out a month or two ago.

So what we need to be focused on is changing arcane laws like that, and helping protect communities and helping prevent sentences from being handed down like this that are disproportionately harmful to people in the community, and try to keep our friends and family members free and not caged up at the hands of the government.

It is very important, these laws are always changing. I hope that Foogiano knew the state of the law when he enetered that plea or went to trial, and hopefully the right thing will happen. But as of now, if you have a forcible felony conviction, the only outcome you can have if you’re convicted a firearm by a convicted felon is five years in prison.

So it’s very important to talk to your lawyer about that. If you have a firearm by a convicted felon case and need some consultation, please call or text J. Ryan Brown Law today.