Trial Date Set for Murder Defendant in Pop Smoke’s Death
A defense attorney is arguing Corey Walker merely served as the getaway driver.
Over three years after the death of Pop Smoke, a trial date has been set for one of the four individuals involved in the rapper’s death.
Corey Walker, who was 19 at the time of the murder, will begin his trial on June 25 in Los Angeles, according to a court hearing, Rolling Stone reported first.
Walker is the sole adult defendant in the case. In April 2023, a 20-year-old – who was a teenager at the time of the murder – pled guilty in a juvenile court to voluntary manslaughter and home invasion robbery, the first of the four to admit to wrongdoing.
The other defendants in the case were 15 and 17-years-old at the time of the attack, meaning their identities were also protected.
Pop Smoke, whose real name is Bashar Barakah Jackson, was visiting Los Angeles in February 2020 when he shared a photo on Instagram of a gift bag from a clothing brand. The image revealed the address of the Hollywood Hills home in which he was staying and that same evening, the four attackers broke into the home while he was sleeping and shot the rapper three times before robbing him of a diamond-studded Rolex.
Prosecutors are arguing that Walker served as “the researcher, getaway driver, weapons provider and planner of this home invasion robbery,” per Rolling Stone.
Walker’s defense attorney Christopher Darden maintains that his client wasn’t involved in the murder but merely served as the getaway driver and remained in the car throughout the attack.
