The sole adult suspect in the murder of Brooklyn rapper Pop Smoke refused any more delays in his case Monday, so witnesses are now due to testify at a preliminary hearing next month.
Corey Walker, 20, appeared in a Los Angeles County courtroom and agreed to the March 22 hearing date alongside his defense lawyer Christopher Darden, a former prosecutor from O.J. Simpson’s 1995 murder trial.
Darden signed on to the high-profile Pop Smoke case after death threats targeting his family led him to step down as a lawyer for Nipsey Hussle murder suspect Eric Holder in 2019.
Speaking to the Daily News, Darden said Monday he doesn’t anticipate anything getting in the way of his ability to defend Walker, the eldest of four people charged with killing Pop Smoke during a deadly February 2020 home invasion robbery.
“I haven’t had the same issues [as with Holder], and if I had the same issues, I am prepared today to deal with them. They wouldn’t make a difference,” Darden told The News.
“I love his music, and I’m a fan,” Darden said of Pop Smoke.
“Our position is that Mr. Walker didn’t kill anybody,” he said.
In the courtroom Monday, prosecutors initially suggested a May 18 date for the planned two-day hearing filled with the testimony they believe will be sufficient to convince a judge that a full-blown jury trial is warranted.
The court said without a time waiver, the latest it could set the hearing was March 22.
“He’s been in custody for eight months now,” Darden told The News when asked about Walker’s push to move things along.
“Because of COVID and partly because of the complexities involved in obtaining discovery, this case has gone on as long as it has. He has a right to a preliminary hearing within 30 days of today. We think we’ll be ready,” Darden said.
Walker is the only adult charged in the case after a judge determined the other co-defendant previously identified was actually still a minor at the time of Pop Smoke’s slaying.
If convicted as charged, Walker will face either the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole, the Los Angeles County district attorney said.
Two more male juvenile suspects in the case, ages 17 and 15, were each charged with murder and robbery without being named, prosecutors said in July.
Pop Smoke, whose real name was Bashar Barakah Jackson, died Feb. 19, 2020, after he was shot in the torso during the alleged 4 a.m. storming of his rented mansion, authorities said.
The rising rap star now up for a posthumous Grammy award for his hit song “Dior” was only 20 years old when doctors tried in vain to save him with a major surgery called a “left thoracotomy,” his death certificate said.
Law enforcement sources previously said four suspects wearing hoodies to obscure their identities were seen on surveillance video at the multimillion-dollar house Jackson was renting.
Jackson posted images on social media shortly before the shooting that revealed his address and showed a large amount of cash.
The Canarsie-bred performer previously collaborated with superstars Nicki Minaj and Travis Scott, while his breakout single “Welcome to the Party” was remixed by ASAP Ferg and Meek Mill.
When he decided to withdraw as counsel for the suspect in Nipsey Hussel’s murder, Darden posted a lengthy explanation on Facebook that highlighted the death threats.
“After centuries of a history of black men hung from trees without trial, or after the thousands of cases of black men tried, convicted and executed without counsel,” he wrote, “I cannot understand why in 2019 some people would deny a black man his 6th Amendment right to counsel of his choice.”
He said it was frustrating “that defending such a man should invite threats not only against me but against my children too.”
“Just as they were in 1995 — Cowards never change. These days these cowards don’t send letters instead they sit anonymously behind keyboards threatening a man’s mother and children. And some folks think that’s funny. It isn’t and I won’t ever forget it,” he wrote.