Kodak Black admits to violating probation. He’ll be released after two months in jail
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South Florida rapper Kodak Black is going to be a free man, thanks to a federal judge’s ruling.
Black, whose legal name is Bill Kapri, had been detained in a Miami federal lock-up since December for running afoul of his probation on a gun-related conviction. On Wednesday, he admitted to a technical violation that he failed to contact his probation officer on a regular basis.
U.S. District Judge Jose Martinez revoked the rapper’s probation but then gave him a sentence of time served at the Miami Federal Detention Center — paving the way for his immediate release after more than two months in the downtown lock-up.
At a brief hearing, Martinez expressed concern for Black, saying he has wasted his “good talent” by excessively using prescription drugs.
“Please straighten out your act,” Martinez told Kodak, 26, whose girlfriend is expecting their second child.
Black had been held since mid-December on a probation violation stemming from a 2019 case in Miami federal court. Black pleaded guilty to lying on a background check form when he purchased handguns at a Hialeah weapons store, court records show.
He was sentenced to nearly four years in prison, though his term was commuted by former President Donald Trump in January 2021, shortly before he left office. The rapper, however, was still on probation for three years, with the period ending in January.
Black’s defense attorneys, Bradford Cohen and Robert Buschel, said they were “very happy with the outcome,” calling the judge’s ruling “fair.”
More legal woes
Kodak, who has been treated for drug addiction, still has other legal problems related to two criminal cases in Broward County.
Last week, a Broward judge ruled that he will no longer need to report to the Broward jail whenever released from federal custody in Miami.
Circuit Court Judge Barbara Duffy on Friday reinstated the Black’s bond, setting his bail in a December case at $5,000. Duffy ordered that Kodak refrain from driving and surrender his driver’s license to his attorney, Cohen.
In December, police say they found Kodak asleep at the wheel in a Bentley with drugs on him in Plantation. The rapper was charged with oxycodone possession, evidence tampering and improperly stopping, standing or parking.
In early February, Duffy dismissed the main drug possession charge but not the other offenses, writing that prosecutors “could not refute or negate the fact” that Black’s prescription for oxycodone was filled by a pharmacy.
Cohen said Kodak argued for his release on bond in the Broward case because he has a child due soon. Court records show that Maranda Johnson, the baby’s mother, wrote the judge a letter stating that the couple is “expecting a beautiful bundle of joy and ... would be elated to have [Kodak] home to bring a new life into this world and begin to nest.”
Broward prosecutor Jonathan Goodman, however, opposed Duffy reinstating Kodak’s bond.
Goodman pointed out that the rapper had picked up the new charges while out on bond awaiting trial in a 2022 Broward case accusing him of drug possession and trafficking. In 2022, Black was pulled over in his purple Dodge Durango by the Florida Highway Patrol. State troopers say they found 31 oxycodone tablets inside the car.
READ MORE: Kodak Black is behind bars in Miami. If he’s released, a Broward judge wants him in jail
