A man was found guilty of felony murder in connection with the fatal 2022 shooting of rapper PnB Rock at a Los Angeles restaurant. After deliberating for four hours, a Los Angeles County jury declared Freddie Lee Trone, 42, guilty of one count of felony murder, two counts of robbery, and one count of conspiracy to commit robbery, after he sent his 17-year-old son to kill the rapper, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
During the trial, both the defense and the prosecution agreed that Trone’s then-17-year-old son walked into the South Los Angeles Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles, shot PnB Rock, and robbed the Philadelphia rapper of his jewelry while he ate with the mother of his 4-year-old daughter. The prosecution claimed the teenager was following out orders from his father, while the defense said that Trone was only an accessory after the fact. The now-19-year-old was charged with murder, but remains in custody in the juvenile system and a judge found him to be not currently competent to stand trial.
“There was no evidence produced that he conspired to commit murder. There’s no evidence there was a conversation about murder, no evidence there was a conversation about a gun,” Trone’s lawyer, Winston McKesson, told The Associated Press. “There is no evidence he gave his son a gun, and no evidence he told him to shoot the guy. The only evidence the jury found is that he dropped him off and picked him up.”
PnB Rock’s mother, Deannea Allen, said in an interview that she was “shaking” and “elated” when the verdict was read, reports The New York Times. “I just said, ‘Hallelujah, thank God,’” said Allen. “Justice has been served.”
A second defendant, Tremont Jones, was convicted of two counts of second-degree robbery and one count of conspiracy to commit robbery. Both Jones and Trone are scheduled to be sentenced on August 27.
PnB Rock, whose real name was Rakim Hasheem Allen, was shot and killed on September 12, 2022 during that robbery at Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles in Los Angeles. Ten days later, Philadelphia’s city council passed a resolution to honor the late rapper.