Rapper’s possession charge dismissed

A Broward County judge dismissed the possession of oxycodone charge against South Florida rapper Kodak Black on Friday, two months after his arrest in December sent him back behind bars.

Black, whose legal name is Bill Kapri, was arrested in Plantation in December when police officers found him asleep at the wheel, according to the probable cause affidavit. Then they caught him with white powder in his mouth. The powder tested positive for cocaine, but a lab test later revealed it was oxycodone, for which Black has a prescription, his attorney argued.

The State Attorney’s Office’s arguments “do not refute or negate the material fact that the Defendant had an Oxycodone prescription filled by a pharmacy,” Judge Barbara Duffy wrote in her order granting the motion to dismiss. “Instead, the State merely asserts that the Defendant had the burden of providing additional evidence regarding the prescription drug he was given. The State, however, does not allege or demonstrate that the prescription obtained by the Defendant on July 19, 2022, was not valid or was illegally obtained.”

The rapper was facing two criminal charges: one count of possession of oxycodone and one count of tampering with physical evidence. Now only the tampering with evidence charge remains. His attorney, Bradford Cohen, hopes to get that dismissed as well.

“I wasn’t surprised,” he said of the decision Friday. “Whenever a court follows the rule of law, I’m never surprised. I’m surprised when they don’t follow the rule of law, that’s when I’m surprised.”

The Broward State Attorney’s office declined to comment, referring to their policy on pending cases.

“Because the tampering with physical evidence charge is still ongoing, our office would not comment,” said spokesperson

Paula McMahon.

Cohen’s motion to dismiss had argued that Black has a valid prescription for oxycodone, providing a picture of the pill bottle and a list of the rapper’s prescriptions from his pharmacy. Prosecutors

argued that the prescription was written in 2022 and they had no way of knowing Black was still using it.

But it was up to the prosecutors to prove that it wasn’t valid, Cohen said, not the defense to prove that it was.

“If you have a prescription from 20 years ago that’s still in your cabinet, police can’t go into your house and arrest you for illegal possession of anything,” he told the Sun Sentinel on Friday.

Black remains in a federal detention center in Miami after his bond in a separate case was revoked because of his drug charge in this case. Cohen is hoping a federal judge will dismiss or reinstate bond in that case.