South Florida rapper Kodak Black remained stuck in a Miami federal jail during a hearing in his oxycodone case in Broward County Friday morning, though his attorney arrived to hand the judge a printed out picture of his prescription pill bottle for the drug.
Black, whose legal name is Bill Kapri, was arrested in Plantation in December on charges of possession of cocaine after police conducted a traffic stop and saw him with white powder in his mouth, according to a probable cause affidavit. A field drug test incorrectly turned up cocaine, but lab testing later revealed that the drug was oxycodone.
Black now faces one count of possession of oxycodone, but his defense attorney argues that he has a legal prescription for the drug. Prosecutors, meanwhile, are arguing that there is no evidence that the white powder police found is the same painkiller the rapper got at the pharmacy.
Friday’s hearing comes amid a cascade of legal battles over Kodak Black that have kept him bouncing from prison to rehab to jail again. His attorney, Bradford Cohen, is trying to get him back to Broward and released. He believes that law enforcement and prosecutors have been out to get the rapper since then-President Donald Trump commuted his sentence.
“I’m no conspiracy theorist, but when you put together all the instances that are screwed up that happen with Bill Kapri, it never equals what would happen to a normal, everyday Joe,” he told the Sun Sentinel on Friday. “These are all extraordinary things that are happening, that don’t happen in regular cases.”
The case
On Dec. 7, the night Black was arrested, Plantation Police said they found his Bentley SUV blocking the road and the rapper asleep at the wheel. Cohen says Black was outside of a friend’s house.
When an officer walked up to Black after he had woken up, he saw the rapper stuffing the oxycodone in his mouth, according to the probable cause affidavit. Black said it was Percocet, referring to oxycodone mixed with Tylenol.
A field test of the powder originally came back positive for cocaine, and Black was arrested on those charges. But a lab test later revealed that the substance was, in fact, oxycodone.
“… at the time of the arrest, the Defendant possessed a valid prescription for for oxycodone, which is an absolute defense as stated in the statute,” Cohen had written in the motion filed Monday.
He attached a copy of Black’s prescription history, which shows he was prescribed the drug for back and lower extremity pain because of a gunshot wound.
The rapper was found with 3.6 grams of the drug, according to the lab report attached in the motion. For reference, the weight threshold for trafficking oxycodone is 7 grams.
‘Contracts 101’
Prosecutors filed a motion Thursday arguing, among other things, that Black’s case should not be dismissed because he signed his name as only “Bill” at the bottom of his attorney’s motion.
Their motion came in response to a motion Cohen filed Monday asking the judge to dismiss Black’s case because of his “valid prescription” for the drug that turned out not to be cocaine. But prosecutors said Cohen’s motion is based on “conclusory allegations” rather than facts. Plus, Black’s name-signing failed to meet legal requirements.
“Motion to dismiss is not properly sworn as the defendant only signed his first name and as such must be struck as a not properly sworn motion to dismiss,” prosecutors wrote.
On Instagram and in court, Cohen brought up the name-signing argument incredulously.
“Sad that they are so desperate to get Kodak they ignore the law,” he wrote online. In court Friday, he said “it’s Contracts 101.”
Prosecutors are also arguing that the defense has not provided sufficient evidence to prove the white powder is the drug Black was prescribed in order to get the case dismissed.
“There were no physical markings on the substance, therefore the substance cannot be identified as what was lawfully prescribed to the defendant,” they wrote. “The defense has also failed to provide sworn documentation that the prescription is legitimate, nor has the state been provided a copy of said prescription.”
These disputes over facts should be resolved in a trial, they argued, not in a motion to dismiss.
Cohen brought a picture of the prescription bottle to court Friday following the state’s argument. It is up to Judge Barbara Duffy to decide whether that is sufficient enough to dismiss the case.
‘He needs to be here’
The recent drug charge has had a ripple effect in Black’s other cases.
He was supposed to appear in person Friday, but due to the drug charge, he was accused of violating his probation in a separate, federal case where he’s accused of lying on a form to buy guns, and was sent to a Miami detention center.
Meanwhile, in addition to the gun charge and recent drug charge, Black is also facing charges of trafficking in oxycodone and possession of a controlled substance without a prescription following an arrest on July 16, 2022.
Black was required to take drug tests as part of his pre-trial release program in that case, but failed shown up for drug tests multiple times, according to the Broward Sheriff’s Office, which has issued two separate warrants for his arrest as a result, court records show. After the December arrest, his bond was revoked in that case as well.
But Cohen thinks the series of legal troubles can be traced back to Black’s commutation on Trump’s last day in office in 2021.
“What I think is happening, the reason he’s being bounced around, the reason he’s being charged in these things, is because no one was happy that he got a commutation,” he said. “They want to show him that it’s not okay to get a commutation.”
Black has to appear in person in Broward be served with the new warrant with the oxycodone charges.
“He needs to be here,” Duffy told Cohen on Friday.
Cohen is confident that he’ll get Black in Broward soon, ideally before a Feb. 2 hearing for the motion to dismiss in the oxycodone possession case and a motion to reinstate bond in the oxycodone trafficking case.
“I’m going to go to the federal judge and get him moved,” Cohen said. “… Next Friday, hopefully, we’ll have him present.”