Federal gun case dropped against Richmond rapper
OAKLAND >> Two weeks before attorneys were set to argue whether or not Richmond police officers violated an East Bay rapper's constitutional rights in a search of a hotel room where a firearm was found, prosecutors agreed to drop the felony case, court records show.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Attorney's office moved to drop a felon in possession of a firearm charge against Nathan Williams, aka Nasty Nate, a Richmond rapper charged last October after police reportedly found a Glock pistol in his hotel room. Williams faced up to 10 years in federal prison if con- victed.
Williams' attorney filed several suppres- sion motions, alleging Richmond police performed an unconstitutional search of the hotel room, as well as accusing officers of taking statements against the rapper before he was advised of his Miranda rights. On April 20, a federal judge granted the motion to suppress statements allegedly made by Williams, in which he admitted to carrying a gun for protection, court records show.
U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam set a May 18 hearing to rule on the motion to suppress the search. But on May 4, prosecutors filed to dismiss the case, court records show.
Richmond police searched Williams' hotel room because they believed he'd tossed a gun from a car during a 120-mph police chase four days earlier. Williams' attorney, John Paul Reichmuth, argued that gave the officers no “reasonable belief that the hotel room keys were themselves contraband or evidence of a crime.”
“The warrantless seizure of the hotel room keys to use them to open the hotel room was unconstitutional, and the fruits of the seizure should be suppressed,” Reichmuth wrote in court filings.
Prosecutors countered in a court filing that the Richmond officer “conducted a valid protective sweep due to a reasonable belief that there was an armed and dangerous individual in Williams's hotel room.”
Williams had been out of custody while the case was pending, court records show.