Judge changes Kodak Black’s status in Broward drug case. What will happen next in court?
Rapper Kodak Black will no longer need to report to the Broward jail whenever he’s released from federal custody in Miami, a judge ruled days after dismissing the rapper’s drug charge.
Broward Circuit Court Judge Barbara Duffy on Friday reinstated Kodak’s bond, setting his bail in a December case at $5,000. Duffy ordered that Kodak refrain from driving and surrender his driver’s license to attorney Brad Cohen. In December, police say they found Kodak asleep at the wheel in a Bentley with drugs on him. The rapper was charged with oxycodone possession, evidence tampering and improperly stopping, standing or parking.
Last week, Duffy dismissed the drug-possession charge, writing that prosecutors “could not refute or negate the fact” that Kodak’s prescription for oxycodone was filled by a pharmacy.
At the hearing Friday, Cohen said Kodak, whose legal name is Bill Kapri, should have the opportunity for release because he has a child due next week. Court records show that Maranda Johnson, the baby’s mother, wrote the judge a letter stating that the couple is “expecting a beautiful bundle of joy and ... would be elated to have [Kodak] home to bring a new life into this world and begin to nest.”
Prosecutor Jonathan Goodman, however, opposed Duffy reinstating Kodak’s bond. Goodman pointed out that the rapper had picked up the charges while out on bond awaiting trial in a 2022 Broward case.
SENTENCE WAS COMMUTED
The South Florida rapper has been held in the Miami federal detention
Kodak Black is still in federal custody in Miami.
center since December. The probation violation stems from a 2019 case in which he pleaded guilty to lying on a background check form when he purchased handguns at a Hialeah store, federal court records show.
He was sentenced to 46 months in prison, though it was commuted by thenPresident Donald Trump in January 2021, shortly before he left office. The rapper, however, was placed on probation for three years, with the period ending in January.
U.S. District Judge Jose Martinez has abstained from releasing the rapper, instead granting Cohen more time to resolve the pending cases in Broward.
At the time of his arrest in Plantation, Kodak Black was out on bond in connection to drug-possession and trafficking charges in Broward . In 2022, Kodak was pulled over in his purple Dodge Durango by
the Florida Highway Patrol. State troopers say they found 31 oxycodone tablets inside the car.
In January, Duffy had ordered the rapper placed behind bars whenever he’s released from federal custody. The judge, at the time, had agreed that there was probable cause to hold Kodak Black in jail pending trial but said she made the ruling on her own volition — and not because of the prosecutor’s request.
While Kodak Black is still charged with tampering with evidence, Cohen indicated that he seeks to have the charge thrown out. He argued that the case is on shaky ground and shouldn’t “survive.”
“He should’ve never been charged with it,” Cohen said. “You can’t tamper with something you legally possess.”