Rap star Cassidy was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter yesterday for his role in a full-scale gun battle last April that killed one man and wounded two others in West Oak Lane.
The 23-year-old rapper, whose real name is Barry Reese, was sentenced to 11 1/2 to 23 months in prison immediately after Common Pleas Court Judge Jane C. Greenspan issued the verdict in the two-day bench trial.But the outcome was clearly a win for Cassidy and defense attorney Fortunato Perri Jr., who beat a first-degree murder charge after prosecutors described a premeditated “ambush” in the alley behind Cassidy's Bayard Street home, where two groups of young men sprayed 47 bullets up and down the block.
Desmond Hawkins, 22, of Cedarbrook, died of a single gunshot wound to the chest.
“I didn't set this up,” Cassidy, a gold-selling recording artist famous for the hit single “I'm a Hustla,” told Greenspan after the verdict. “I've asked God for forgiveness for even having those guys in the neighborhood. Maybe I could have done something different.”
The judge agreed.
“You could be a leader in your community. Desmond is gone now because of all those guns, and that is your responsibility,” Greenspan said.
The shoot-out – which involved several handguns and an AK-47-style assault rifle, none of which was recovered by police – took place hours after Cassidy and a group of his friends were involved in a scuffle at a neighborhood Rite Aid.
Isiah Michaels, 18, later told detectives that Cassidy received a phone call from a man who threatened to “shoot him on sight” because of the fight.
In the written record of Michaels' police interview, he told investigators that Hawkins and his crew drove into the alley behind Cassidy's home and opened fire, prompting Cassidy and two others to shoot back.
In yesterday's testimony, Michaels disavowed that statement and implied that detectives had made it up.
No witnesses placed a gun in Cassidy's hands, forcing Assistant District Attorney Deborah Watson-Stokes to rely mainly on crime-scene investigators and ballistic experts, who testified to a barrage of gunfire that destroyed parked cars and penetrated a neighbor's house on the block of tightly packed rowhouses.
The proceeding ended with testimony from the victim's father, who wished his son would have made a “better decision” than showing up in the alley.
“To all the parents, just try to love your child,” William Hawkins said. “No matter if you don't give them nothing, just be there for them. Because it's too late for me.” Cassidy will likely release a third album and go on tour upon his release from prison, said Emio Zizza, a Sony BMG music executive who attended the trial.
Contact staff writer Oliver Prichard at 215-854-4497 or oprichard@phillynews.com.