Bobby Shmurda officially received his seven-year prison sentence today, although not without a fight. Shmurda attempted to renegotiate the plea deal at the last minute, with claims that his lawyer had forced him into the deal. “I was forced to take this sentence. I don't want to take this sentence. I want to drop the plea," the New York Daily News reports Shmurda telling the judge during the hearing. He then addressed his lawyer directly, saying “I want to drop my plea and fire you.”
Although it's not clear exactly what caused him to have a change of heart, it didn't end up mattering. The terms of the deal were already negotiated with prosecutors, and the judge went ahead and officially handed down the sentence to Shmurda. The deal saw him plead guilty to 4th-degree conspiracy to criminally possess a weapon and 2nd-degree criminal weapons possession, despite his claims that the gun was a prop for a music video.
"You don't have any rights in that courtroom," said Shmurda's mother Leslie Pollard, expressing her frustration at the court proceedings to Billboard. "It's heartbreaking. It's disappointing."
Shmurda originally told Complex that he had taken the deal to help Rowdy Rebel. "I did it for Rowdy. They offered me five [years] and offered Rowdy 12," he said. "They said the only way they’ll give him seven is if I took seven, too. So, you know, I had to take one for the dawgs."
Shmurda has already served close to two years of his sentence.
