Superfly actor and rapper Kaalan Walker was discovered responsible Monday of raping six victims — three of them sixteen-12 months-ancient aspiring fashions — and sexually assaulting a seventh girl all through a collection of what prosecutors called "sophisticated" attacks between 2013 and late 2018.
The actor, who appeared in Kings with Halle Berry in 2017 and performed gang member Juju in the 2018 flick Superfly, hung his head and began sobbing because the cut up verdict from a la jury changed into study. He was acquitted of expenses concerning three of the ten victims in the case, together with two expenses of forcible rape.
"I didn't rape anyone, your honor. I didn't rape any one," Walker, 27, exclaimed as he was led away in handcuffs after the jury departed. He's facing as much as a hundred years to lifestyles at sentencing. His legal professional, Andrew Flier, promptly vowed an appeal.
all over her closing argument final week, Deputy District legal professional Cynthia Wallace called Walker a "serial rapist" who dubiously name-dropped Drake with most of his victims, promising introductions that under no circumstances materialized.
She and fellow prosecutor Yasmin Fardghassemi told jurors all the way through the six-week trial that after Walker combined his moderate superstar popularity with the "little blue check mark" on his social media profiles, he became capable of disarm his victims' defenses and trap them to far off areas with guarantees of image shoots or video gigs.
"We think that with this verdict, the jury gave these victims returned their voices," Wallace tells Rolling Stone. "This was very sophisticated. He picked these ladies and he appealed to their goals and hopes and name-dropped Drake and used his connection to Halle Berry to get these women somewhere and benefit their trust. as soon as they had been there, it wasn't about doing photograph shoots, it turned into about assaulting them."
Flier noted he plans to file a movement for a brand new trial based on multiple selections by way of choose Joseph Brandolino that confined the counsel Walker could existing in regards to the victims within the case.
"I don't consider he received a fair trial, and the incontrovertible fact that he had three acquittals on three of the victims speaks volumes. I believe it's going to make his appellate considerations a lot more meritorious. however I'm disillusioned concerning the verdicts," Flier tells Rolling Stone. "The protection became precluded from calling witnesses to demonstrate the identical pattern however no rape. The decide did not permit us to call witnesses about that identical subject, but on the reverse."
The jury, which included three Black women, heard from the charged victims in addition to Walker throughout the trial. one of the vital victims described how she become a sixteen-yr-historical aspiring model when Walker offered her a photo shoot. She testified that her mom and stepfather drove her to Walker's house constructing. She referred to he separated her from her household and manipulated her into filming an impromptu sex tape with claims he could introduce her to Drake and that she'd on no account fulfill her dream of becoming a Victoria's Secret mannequin with out showing a greater provocative side.
"He stated Drake, taking her to a Drake party. What does he inform her? 'smartly, you recognize what? in case you wish to do all of those issues, if you want to be at parties with Drake, in case you are looking to be a Victoria's Secret mannequin, you comprehend what we have to do? We ought to film a sex tape,'" Wallace stated right through her closing. "He's a 22-year-historic man telling a 16-year-historical woman, 'We should movie a intercourse tape.'"
The woman instructed jurors that she resisted "dissimilar times," however Walker "doesn't take no for an answer," Wallace noted.
"He keeps insisting, pushing and persisting, talking over her," and eventually wearing the lady down until she at last relented, Wallace stated. "She noted, 'well, i assumed: 'He knows all these individuals. He's going to help me.' i believed what i was doing was going to aid my career.'"
Wallace noted the legislation is obvious that a toddler's consent is "not ever" a defense to statutory rape. "Minors are not developed in the equal method emotionally and mentally that adults are, and we be aware of this," Wallace referred to. "that is why children are included from grownup guys. You don't must do loads of work on them. You promise them a couple of things and also you get a naked sixteen-year-old woman who will let you penetrate her from in the back of."
Wallace tells Rolling Stone there's "no proof [Walker] had any connection to Drake. It changed into just a factor that he used to entice the women in. It turned into a lure, a ruse, his method of getting these women."
one in all Walker's convictions Monday regarding his rape of a lady outdoor a Tyga reveal on the Belasco nightclub in los angeles in January 2014. The girl testified she bought too drunk on a party bus to benefit admission to the reveal and changed into led to a automobile by way of somebody who promised to aid her however in the end raped her. The girl had no idea who her assailant became except she got a rape exam and the DNA in her vaginal cavity matched to Walker, Wallace said.
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