Federal prosecutors in Texas argue that AllStar JR should remain incarcerated ahead of his trial after being charged for being a felon in possession of a firearm for the alleged shooting of NBA Ben 10 — despite his previous argument for being released.
In a new filing obtained by Complex, prosecutors responded to JR’s (real name Jeremy Christopher Ford) argument in late May that a Michigan magistrate judge’s decision the prior month to keep him incarcerated was wrong. That initial hearing was in Michigan, where JR lives. He was soon afterwards moved to Texas, where the alleged shooting took place.
In their filing on Monday (July 6), prosecutors wrote that JR’s request to his case’s judge to hold a hearing in order to reconsider that decision should be denied because the rapper didn’t “provide a sufficiently compelling reason” to revisit the decision.
“Defendant represents a clear danger to public safety that cannot be reasonably mitigated by any condition or combination of conditions this Court can craft,” reads the document. “Because the dangers Judge Altman described still exist and no new information has been produced that was not known to the Defendant at the time of his detention hearing in Detroit, Defendant’s detention remains warranted.”
The reference to “no new information” is a nod to JR’s earlier statement that there is “evidence and information that defense counsel understands was not presented to the Magistrate Judge in Detroit.”
The prosecutors’ note, as mentioned, comes more than a month after JR’s legal team requested the rapper be let out on bond.
JR is most likely seeking to be released from incarceration ahead of his trial since the trial got pushed back from July 7 to Aug. 31. The move happened late last month when Judge George C. Hanks Jr. granted an unopposed motion to continue the case. It came after the rapper’s attorney, John M. Helms, asked the court for an additional 60 days so that the legal team could prepare for his defense.
In his filing, Helms argued that more time was required so that discovery could be reviewed, the incident could be investigated, he could meet with JR, and to determine whether the case could potentially be resolved before trial.
JR’s federal case concerns an Apr. 8 shooting at Confessions Restaurant in Houston. Per prosecutors, after being confronted by multiple men in a situation that authorities have described as an attempted robbery, JR picked up a weapon off the ground and fired several shots at assailants, striking NBA Ben10 multiple times and allegedly causing him to suffer irreversible paralysis.
JR then allegedly mocked the victims on social media by, per the new filing, “encourag[ing] his followers to enter the ‘Ben10 Challenge.’ Defendant offered to pay $20,000 to the person who best imitated [NBA Ben10] laying motionless and being shot while lying on the ground.” JR also recorded a song and shot a video that, per prosecutors, saw him “bragging” about the shooting.
