Bobby Shmurda Was Denied Parole
Bobby Shmurda was denied parole from New York State prison last week, Vulture has learned. New York State’s Department of Corrections and Community Supervision said that the rapper, whose legal name is Ackquille Pollard, had an interview with the Board of Parole on September 15. Following that interview, Pollard was denied release. Pollard was “given a hold until the maximum expiration of his sentence on December 11, 2021,” the Corrections Department said. Before news of the parole denial emerged, one of Pollard’s lawyers, Alex Spiro, said in an email: “We are glad he is coming home soon.”
The rapper has been behind bars for about six years — some two in city jail, followed by four in state lockup — after his arrest in December 2014. Prosecutors said that Pollard was part of an East Flatbush–based gang, GS9, which engaged in a “protracted turf battle with multiple other rivals,” such as Brooklyn’s Most Wanted, from January 2013 to October 2014. Twenty-one people were charged in the indictment.
On September 9, 2016, Pollard pleaded guilty to conspiracy in the fourth degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree.
The Manhattan Supreme Court sentencing was characterized by drama, with Pollard reportedly saying, “I was forced to take this sentence, I did not want to take this sentence. I was forced by my attorney to take this plea.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
