Pop Smoke Murder Defendant Takes Plea Deal With 29 Years in Prison
The only adult charged with the 2020 murder of rising rapper Pop Smoke accepted a plea deal from prosecutors Wednesday, capping a nearly five-year prosecution of predominantly juvenile defendants in the deadly home-invasion robbery that shocked the hip-hop industry.
Corey Walker, accused of leading three juveniles to the rented Airbnb the morning of the shooting, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and home invasion robbery with gun and gang enhancements. He’s due to be sentenced to 29 years in prison at a hearing set for Feb. 21, 2025.
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Prosecutors dropped a murder charge under the deal. The new voluntary manslaughter charge, added Wednesday, included the aggravating factors that the crime was carried out with planning and a “high degree of cruelty, viciousness and callousness.” Walker also pleaded guilty to the related robbery of a woman at the home. The manslaughter and additional robbery convictions carry additional two-year sentences that will run concurrently with the 29 years, prosecutors said. The pleas averted a jury trial that was scheduled to start this week in downtown Los Angeles.
According to prosecutors, Walker and his cohorts planned the robbery to steal the cash, thick gold chain and diamond-studded watch that Pop Smoke, 20, had shown on social media a day earlier. The group was able to locate the rental home because the Brooklyn rapper, born Bashar Barakah Jackson, inadvertently posted a photo of a gift bag with the address listed on a label.
Jackson’s mother, Audrey Jackson, tells Rolling Stone she’s thankful the case was resolved, but it doesn’t help her broken heart. “It’s over for everybody except for me. This never ends for me. And that’s unfair,” she said, speaking by phone after the hearing. “I’m grateful that the culprits were caught. I appreciate they got justice to the fullest extent of the law. But my life doesn’t change. I still don’t have my son. I will continue to work on his legacy, but that’s also a constant reminder that he’s not here.”
Walker appeared in court in an orange jail uniform, flanked by his defense lawyers Kellen Davis and Deion Benjamin. Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Hilary Williams asked if he had reviewed their 17-page agreement. “Yes ma’am,” he said. Williams then asked Walker if he agreed to the underlying facts of the case, including that he surveilled the rental home in his BMW with a 17-year-old accomplice, left to recruit others, returned in a different vehicle with ski masks, gloves and a police scanner to avoid detection and provided a 9mm firearm to one of the juveniles. “Yes,” he replied to each question. Williams also asked if it was true he and his cohorts sold Jackson’s stolen Rolex for just $2,000. “Yes,” he replied softly as his grandmother and 4-year-old daughter watched from the gallery.
At the end of the hearing, Walker asked if he could interact briefly with his daughter. The child’s mother was six months pregnant at the time of his arrest, so he’s never had a chance to hold his little girl, his family said. He was allowed to turn and blow her a kiss.
Walker, 24, was originally charged with one count of murder, two counts of robbery and one count of burglary. He had been facing the possibility of life without parole if convicted as charged. When prosecutors first announced Walker’s arrest in July 2020, they said he would be eligible for the death penalty because Pop Smoke was fatally shot during an alleged robbery. (Subsequent DA George Gascón later instituted a policy of not pursing the death penalty. Recently elected DA Nathan Hochman has said the death penalty “should only be used in the rarest of cases.”)
Three other defendants, including the 15-year-old shooter, were charged as juveniles. The teen triggerman admitted in May 2023 that he shot the celebrated “Dior” rapper during a home invasion robbery around 4 a.m. on February 19, 2020. He was sentenced to 50 years to life in prison, but under California law, the maximum age for juvenile detention is 25 years old.) The eldest of the juveniles, who was 17 years old at the time, admitted to voluntary manslaughter and home invasion robbery at a hearing in April 2023. The third juvenile, 16 at the time, also settled his case and was sent to a post-conviction juvenile housing facility, a source confirmed to Rolling Stone.
Walker was 19 at the time of the slaying and was described by prosecutors as a ringleader of the group. They said he “facilitated the crimes by not only surveilling the crime scene before the crimes were committed but serving as the researcher, getaway driver, weapons provider and planner of this home invasion robbery.” Walker’s prior defense lawyer, Christopher Darden, disagreed, arguing in court filings obtained by Rolling Stone that Walker “did not plan this crime” and, in the “worst case scenario,” was only the driver who remained outside seated in the driver’s seat of the getaway car.
According to police and prosecutors, the juvenile defendants, some in ski masks, made their way up to an outdoor balcony and burst into the upstairs bedroom of the Airbnb rental home where Jackson was taking a shower. Prosecutors alleged Walker was in communication with the juveniles via cell phone during the incident that ended with Jackson being pistol-whipped and shot three times in the back with a Beretta 9mm semiautomatic pistol.
A police detective testified at a preliminary hearing that a Google account linked to Walker researched the rental home before the slaying and then searched “Rolex oyster perpetual datejust” at 5:15 a.m., less than an hour after the first 911 call was made.
In his failed motion to get Walker’s murder charge dismissed, Darden argued that Walker “did not share the actual killer’s intent to kill.” In his October 2021 filing, he said Walker “was aware that a weapon was being used,” but he was careful to insist that “if it became necessary for the suspects to defend themselves, they should use a flower vase rather than shoot someone.” Darden said “it was only after the robbers exited the house and reentered the vehicle that [Walker] learned of the shooting. In response, [Walker] assaulted the shooter.”
As they left the hearing Wednesday, Davis and Benjamin said it’s undisputed that their client remained in the car and didn’t shoot anyone. But even if they won acquittal on the murder charge, he still could have faced life in prison on the robbery with the enhancements.
“Under the circumstances, we’re confident this is the best outcome for Mr. Walker to still have a future. And of course, our thoughts and prayers are with Pop Smoke’s family. This is something that never should have happened, something Mr. Walker never wanted to have happen,” defense attorney Davis told Rolling Stone after the hearing.
Davis and Benjamin said they were confident they could have won an acquittal on the murder charge, but there was still the risk of a life sentence on the robbery charge considering the enhancements.
“Our goal was to allow our client to come out and be with his family again,” Benjamin said. “The facts of the case showed he did not want the death to happen. And he’s very remorseful.”
Theida Salazar, the defense lawyer for the 15-year-old shooter, previously told Rolling Stone that his client was remorseful as well. “He was born in custody to a mother incarcerated and grew up in a community that compelled him to identify and associate with gangs,” Salazar said.
The lawyer called Jackson’s murder a tragic ending for a young man and promising artist. “Mr. Jackson was poised to make a global impact,” Salazar said. “There’s no way to gauge the heights he could have attained, and there’s no replacing him or his contributions to the arts.”
On Wednesday, Jackson’s mother said she doesn’t plan to attend Walker’s Feb. 21 sentencing. Instead, she’ll be introducing a new clothing line in her son’s name and holding a charity gala in Canarsie, Brooklyn, to honor community leaders through her Shoot for the Stars Foundation honoring the rapper.
“I have a full week of events celebrating my son’s life,” she says. “I have not been holding animosity. I’ve just been getting through this. There’s just nothing to say [at Walker’s sentencing]. Everybody’s life has been ruined.”
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