Lil Pap, a YoungBoy Never Broke Again affiliate, has taken a guilty plea deal in the murder of Baton Rouge rapper Gee Money and has been sentenced to five (5) years in jail as he evades the previous minimum sentence of life in prison.
On Monday, rapper NBA Lil Pap whose real name is Deandre Demarcus Fields, 28, took the guilty plea deal accessory to murder and a lesser sentence. Lil Pap was initially arrested and charged with second-degree murder for the shooting death of rapper Gee Money who was killed outside of his music studio in September 2017.
Prosecutors had alleged that the rapper had been part of a rival gang that had conflicts with a gang Gee Money was part of, and that led to his killing.
East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore explained to the court that prosecutors were unable to successfully get Fields for the murder of Gee Money as the key witness Donovan Cortez Jefferson, appeared to be compromised since he was arrested on subsequent murder allegations. Lil Pap was, however, linked to the murder as an accessory after the fact, The Advocate reported.
Fields is currently serving a three-year sentence for a federal weapons charge in a separate case. Fields addressed 19th Judicial District Court Judge Michael McDonald agreeing to the plea deal.
“I’m going to agree to the deal, but I want to say for the record that I’m 100% innocent,” he said.
The judge responded, “Well if you’re not guilty, you’re not guilty.” Fields responded, “It’s in my best interest to accept the plea.”
Lil Pap was arrested in 2019 with prosecutors claiming that he had killed Gee Money, whose real name is Garrett Burton, because of a beef with NBA YoungBoy.
Prosecutors claimed that the beef stemmed from a song by Gee Money that contained disparaging lyrics about NBA YoungBoy’s sister. Both YoungBoy and Gee Money publicly beefed over the song
“In the days prior to Burton’s death, both Burton and Gaulden made several social media posts about one another, which further exacerbated tensions between the two rival rap music groups. When Burton was killed, members of the NBA group were immediately developed as suspects due to … the ongoing rap music feud,” an arrest warrant for Lil Pap had read.
Gee Money was killed a month after the exchanges on social media. Lil Pap was arrested after police found cyber evidence in the form of cell phone location tracking showing Lil Pap was in Baton Rouge even though he lied and said he was out of the state with his mother and son.
The upcoming rapper had also admitted to cops he shot Gee Money- “To be honest, me,” he reportedly told cops when asked who the shooter was.
Fields was facing life in prison but is now going to jail for five years, with time spent credited to him.
Judge McDonald commenting on the plea deal, noted, “with this agreement, the sentencing and the charge have been greatly reduced from what it was.”
Gee Money’s Mother Speak After Lil Pap’s Sentence
Meanwhile, Gee Money’s mother, Avera Burton, reacted to the sentencing of Lil Pap on Tuesday, writing that she believed the real killer was still on the loose.
“Let me clear this up we went to court yesterday and no one was charged with Geemoney murder. The guy was charged with accessory to second degree murder after the fact. We never got a shooter but with God I have in me he don’t sleep,” Burton wrote on Facebook.
“He [sit] high and look low shooter if you still out there may God have Mercy on your Soul because that guy wasn’t the killer!!! …the Burton family will get justice and that’s on Gee,” she added.
