A California jury on Wednesday, August 7, found a man guilty of sending his 17-year-old son to kill Philadelphia rapper PnB Rock in South Los Angeles.
After deliberating for about four hours, jurors convicted Freddie Trone, 42, of one count of murder, two counts of robbery, and one count of conspiracy to commit robbery.
At the two-week trial, it was agreed that the teen walked into Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles in September of 2022 and shot the Philadelphia hip-hop star while robbing him of his jewelry as he ate with the mother of his 4-year-old daughter.
The prosecution said the teen was acting on his father’s orders while the defense said Trone was only an accessory after the fact.
The now-19-year-old was charged with murder but is in the custody of the juvenile system and a judge has found that he is not currently competent to stand trial.
Another man, Tremont Jones, was found guilty Wednesday, August 7, of two counts of robbery and one count of conspiracy. Jones was not charged with murder.
David Haas, Jones’ lawyer, said he plans to appeal.
PnB Rock, the Philadelphia rapper whose legal name is Rakim Allen, was best known for his 2016 hit “Selfish” and for guest appearances on other artists’ songs such as YFN Lucci’s “Everyday We Lit” and Ed Sheeran’s “Cross Me” with Chance the Rapper. He was 30.
The defense made the rare and risky move of putting Trone on the stand, where he vehemently denied any part in prompting the killing.
“I never had nothing to do with it,” Trone testified Monday. “I wasn’t there. I didn’t tell nobody to do nothing. I didn’t hand nobody no gun.”
Trone acknowledged on the stand that the crimes were “heinous” and that his son was “dangerous.”
During his closing argument, Deputy District Attorney Timothy Richardson seized on both, saying, “But you send your 17-year-old son with knowledge of the problems he possesses to do this?”
Richardson emphasized to jurors that a non-shooter can be guilty of felony murder when they are a “major participant” who acted with “reckless indifference to human life.”
The video showed Trone in the parking lot of the restaurant about 30 minutes before the killing. Trone testified that he had reason to be there because he was drumming up business for his nearby beauty shop.
Richardson showed a surveillance image of Jones fist-bumping Allen, whose arm had valuable pieces of jewelry on it. Prosecutors said Jones then tipped Trone off to the rapper’s presence, and his jewelry.
