Vibe.com, January 25th, 2006
On Tuesday [January 24], the rapper was convicted in a Philadelphia court on charges stemming from a gun fight in April 2005 that killed one man and wounded two others, according to The Philadelphia Daily News. Cassidy was also convicted of two counts of aggravated assault and possession of an instrument of crime. He was sentenced to 11 1/2-23 months in prison and has already served seven months.
Prosecutors had sought to prove that Cassidy was responsible for the death of 22-year-old Desmond Hawkins, who was killed in a shootout that took place in an alleyway behind Cassidy's Philadelphia home on April 15, 2005.
The prosecution believed Cassidy was involved in the incident since the shooting took place just hours after the rapper and friends were involved in an altercation with Hawkins and his crew at a Rite Aid in the area. When Hawkins and his group drove into the alleyway, a shootout began and shots were fired from Hawkins' van toward Cassidy's van which was parked out back.
Since no witnesses could recall Cassidy having a gun, the prosecution was forced to base its case on the testimony of crime-scene investigators and ballistic experts who attested to the gunfire's destruction of neighborhood property.
After the verdict, Cassidy told Common Pleas Court Judge Jane C. Greenspan that he "didn't set this up. I've asked God for forgiveness for even having those guns in the neighborhood. Maybe I could have done something different."
Greenspan echoed his statement when she said: "You could be a leader in your community. Desmond is gone now because of all those guns, and that is your responsibility."
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