Man pleads guilty to aiding the accused killers of rapper Young Dolph
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A Tennessee man pleaded guilty on Friday to assisting in the hideout and escape of two suspects charged with the fatal shooting of rapper Young Dolph outside a Memphis bakery in 2021.
Jermarcus Johnson, 26, was charged with three counts of accessory after the fact, and received a plea deal that will allow him to avoid trial. However, Johnson could choose to testify during a future trial, as the case related to Young Dolph is still ongoing.
Young Dolph, whose real name was Adolph Thornton Jr., was a 36-year-old rapper, label owner and producer.
In November 2021, he stopped to purchase cookies in his hometown when two men driving a stolen Mercedes Benz opened fire outside the bakery and fatally wounded him, authorities said.
Johnson admitted to aiding the two suspects in their escape by communicating with them while they were on the run following the incident. He also allegedly helped one of the suspects contact his probation officer after the killing took place.
During Friday’s questioning, prosecutor Paul Hagerman acknowledged that Johnson did not have a role in the killing of Young Dolph, but was one of “multiple players” who were connected to the event.
Johnson admitted to taking possession of a car from his half-brother, Justin Johnson, who is also one of the suspects.
While the car was not the Mercedes witnessed in the shooting, Johnson did identify a photo of his brother wearing the same clothes that were seen on one of the shooters at the scene of the crime.
“Sometimes it’s one of those lessons of, you have to be careful who you know and who you associate with,” said Johnson’s lawyer, Josh Corman. “In this case, it was a half-brother of his who showed up to his apartment one day and had a phone and a car.”
Justin Johnson and the other shooting suspect, Cornelius Smith, are being held in jail on murder charges.
A fourth suspect, Hernandez Govan, was later arrested and indicted for conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.
With News Wire Services
