Casanova Seeks Sentence Reduction by ‘Acceptance of Responsibility’
Casanova is looking to receive a prison reduction. In new court docs, Casanova cites “extraordinary acceptance of responsibility” in association with his role in the Untouchable Gorilla Stone Nation Bloods Gang court case.
According to AllHipHop, Casanova thinks his actions during an altercation at a New York diner did not equate to a “robbery” in New York State law. Casanova was one of 18 charged. Casanova faced two counts of felony robbery associated with removing a cell phone from Niya Rucker. Cas and his legal team maintain no robbery accused.
Casanova stated he had no intention of keeping the cell phone, lessening the crime. This follows a report in which he renounced his gang membership in connection to his sentence appeal.
Casanova has also released a new message from jail. Hitting X, the jailed rapper wrote: “I am terrified of how loneliness brings em a twisted kind of comfort.”
Casanova is behind bars, serving a 15-year sentence in a court case that labeled the rapper as a “high-profile leader of a vicious street gang.” Slowbucks, who shared a Facetime to his Instagram Stories, is giving an update on Casanova’s condition.
“Don’t believe the hype,” Slowbucks wrote, HipHopDX notes. “My guy in great standards and in great spirits. Free @bigcasanova_2x.”
Casanova has officially been sentenced, and now his legal team has officially filed an appeal. The Brooklyn rapper was viciously slashed across his face right before sentencing and his lawyer feels jail is not safe for him following his denouncement of the Gorilla Stone Nation gang.
According to HotNewHipHop, Casanova’s lawyer James Kousouros, mentioned that his sentence should be reduced because the Brooklyn rapper (real name Caswell Senior) denounced his formal ties to the Gorilla Stone Nation gang.
“The fact is that Mr. Senior stayed in this gang as it furthered his rap career,” Casanova’s lawyers said. “As he gained moderate success and then a recording contract with Roc Nation, he increasingly separated himself from the gang’s activities despite remaining a member.”
Casanova received 188 months or 15 years behind bars on June 27 from U.S. District Judge Philip M. Halpern. The crimes he’s accused of include a shooting in Florida on July 5, 2020, a robbery in New York City on August 5, 2018 and conspiracy to traffic over 100 kilograms of marijuana.
“Caswell Senior is not just a notorious recording artist, but he is also a high-profile leader of a vicious street gang and a magnet for gang violence,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a press release at the time. “At a crowded Miami house party, Senior personally fired a gun that seriously injured and could have killed a victim, inciting a shootout.”
He continued: “Further, Senior’s stature in the community was central to Gorilla Stone’s successful recruitment and nationwide expansion. Today’s sentencing — along with the other significant sentences that have been imposed in this case — shows once again that gang life is not worth it and will lead to many years in prison.”
Casanova was the 12th defendant in the Gorilla Stone case to have been sentenced. Five more defendants have pled guilty and are awaiting sentencing.
After he received the sentence, he took to to Twitter and issued a short message, saying, “Everything to the chin, Nothing to the heart. I GET IT NOW. I hope that don’t go over ya heads.”
Before his sentencing, Cas was assaulted in a bloody prison altercation that took place at Essex County Correctional Facility in Newark, New Jersey, in early June.
