Tom Copeland of the Garden Court Crime Team was instructed by Pan Symeou, Senior Partner and Founder of Faradays Solicitors.
Following a three-week multi-handed trial at Croydon Crown Court, the jury unanimously acquitted the defendant of possession of two firearms and compatible ammunition found in his car, with his DNA being recovered from the handle of the pistol.
The defendant was a rapper who has been described as a “rising star” in the music industry. He comes from a drill background, but amalgamates drill with other genres such as Afrobeat on the international stage.
The trial involved cross-examination of a DNA expert on secondary transfer (a search officer conceded in cross-examination that she had touched the handle of the pistol during the search, which was not video recorded). There was also a cross-examination of a slang expert who interpreted some of the defendant’s earlier work in the drill genre about firearms in order to bolster the prosecution’s case.
The defendant then gave evidence over three days and presented a wider selection of his music, which exposed how the prosecution was seeking to portray him as a criminal, rather than as an artist.
Following a legal argument in relation to the lyrics and music videos, Tom Copeland persuaded the judge to give a favourable legal direction to the jury on how they should approach that kind of evidence in a criminal trial.
