Kodak Black Oxycodone Charges Dropped After ‘Cocaine’ Flub

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Incarcerated rap star Kodak Black scored a legal victory Friday when a Florida judge dismissed charges stemming from his Dec. 7 arrest for possession of what he called cocaine. place but really oxycodone through next laboratory testing. Black, whose legal name is Bill Kapri, submitted a prescription for oxycodone to the court before the verdict. Prosecutors tried, but failed, to convince the court that more was needed to confirm the script.

“[Prosecutors] do not deny or suppress a material fact that the defendant had an oxycodone prescription filled by the pharmacy. Instead, the government argues that the defendant has the burden of providing additional evidence about the medication he was given. However, the state does not allege or show that the drugs the defendant obtained on July 19, 2022 were invalid or illegally obtained,” said Broward County District Judge Barbara Duffy. .

“I’m always happy to see a fair trial in a case. This case is one that should not have been filed. I tried to explain this to the Broward District Attorney’s Office, but to no avail,” Kapri’s defense attorney, Brad Cohen, said in a post. A rolling stone. Cohen said his next goal is to get his clients off the hook. It’s a complicated process because the Dec. 7 arrest resulted in the revocation of Kapri’s bond in a separate Broward County drug case in which he pleaded not guilty, as well as the possible revocation of his federal parole. at his 2019 conviction for perjury. statement during gun purchase.

In court documents leading up to Friday’s sentencing, prosecutors argued that Kapri only provided a “print” of his prescription for oxycodone in 2022, and that it wasn’t enough. . They said the oxygen recovered during the seizure two months ago “was not labeled properly to indicate that the possession was from a valid prescription,” and attempts to reach the doctor associated with the prescription. “The state does not know how the drug was sent to the pharmacy, or the validity of the copy of the written prescription,” said the request from the assistant prosecutor Jonathan Goodman.

Cohen said prosecutors were trying to “shift the burden” unfairly. “The state must prove that the pills are not related to the prescription,” not the other way around, he wrote. “It is not uncommon for travelers with valid prescriptions to separate pills from bottles of medication to take later,” he continued, citing case law. He said that Kapri “used the script according to the instructions”, which he would “take as needed.”

The official arrest report, obtained by A rolling stone, noted that Kapri voluntarily advised police at the Adam Stern Farm that the white substance found on him at the time of his arrest was Percocet. Despite this assurance, Stern said in his report that “the substance was positive for cocaine.” Stern also said Kapri tried to cover up the dust when he was found asleep at the wheel of his black Bentley in the neighboring community of Fort Lauderdale. Stern also took the step to federal court on Dec. 19 and testified against Kapri there, leading a judge to order the rapper into custody pending a larger impeachment hearing. his release under federal supervision.

When a lab test eventually came back negative for cocaine, the Broward County District Attorney charged Kapri with illegal possession of oxycodone. “Speaking generally and not specifically about this case, there is a detailed legal process required to verify the validity of the prescription,” said Paula McMahon, a spokeswoman for the District Attorney’s office. of Broward County, in a previous statement. A rolling stone. He confirmed that the prosecutor filed charges only after receiving the results of the laboratory tests. “The police arrested him on suspicion of possessing cocaine. Our office has not filed that charge,” McMahon said.

Cohen said Friday that he is also working to dismiss Kapri’s remaining charges of tampering with evidence and a double-parking conviction, based largely on “false statements” and the standoff. witnessed by the arresting officer. “The officer said it was crack cocaine, and it turned out to be oxycodone. I don’t know how to make such a mistake. I have never seen in my 27 years of service where an officer tested an oxycodone pill, and it came back positive for cocaine. This officer is either very careless, incompetent or a liar. It’s one of those three,” Cohen previously said A rolling stone. “I will request an internal investigation into this officer and his testimony, which is unbelievable.

He also said Kapri failed to stop traffic while parked outside a friend’s apartment near the Fort Lauderdale City Club and failed to “honk or request” the first officer on the scene. -place for Kapri to move his car before starting the meeting.

Kapri, 26, was halfway through a three-year federal prison sentence for forging documents used to buy firearms at a Miami gun shop when he commuted the sentence on his last day on the job. President Donald Trump at that time in January 2021. by Gucci Mane, Lil Pump and Lil Yachty, noted Kodak’s philanthropic efforts, including his love of distributing school supplies and food to needy Florida residents.

In another case in Broward County, Kapri is fighting charges that he was trafficking oxycodone after he was arrested in July 2022 with a white plate and nearly $75,000 in cash in his car. Prosecutors say he trafficked 14 to 25 grams of oxycodone. The defense’s motion to dismiss the case alleges that authorities falsified evidence and that some of the tablets tested positive for acetaminophen. Kapri was out of bond in that case when he was ordered to enter a treatment facility for 30 days last year for testing positive for fentanyl on February 8, 2023.