Armed Robbery Charges Dropped Against Miami Rapper Gunplay
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – It's cased dismissed for Miami rapper Gunplay.
On Monday, the Miami-Dade State State Attorneys Office announced that they had dropped armed robbery charges against Gunplay, whose real name is Richard Morales, despite having a surveillance video of the robbery which shows him pointing a gun at a man inside a tax preparation office in northwest Miami-Dade.
"Although the armed robbery is captured on the victim's surveillance system, the victim, Turron Woodside, is uncooperative in the prosecution of this defendant, Richard Moralesm," according to a close out memo on the case. "As Turron Woodside is the sole proprietor of his tax business, we have no way of getting the video recording of the crime admitted in as evidence without his testimony."
A co-defendant, 36-year-old Randy Jones, was also charged in the robbery.
Contrary to what many people believe video alone is not enough to convict an individual of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt, according to State Attorney's Office spokesperson Terry Chavez.
Prosecutors said after getting him to come down to the State Attorney's Office once, Woodside refused to cooperate. He failed to appear for trial despite being served with a subpoena and even managed to avoid a State Attorney's Office investigator who camped outside at his home to try to serve him again.
Prosecutors say the judge was not willing to issue the Rule to Show Cause without the state able to get Woodside to testify.
After a move to continue the case and one for material witness bond were denied, prosecutors decided to drop the case.
