Musicians Who Have Killed People
In the early 2000s, rapper Cassidy was well-known for his skills in freestyling and rap battles, and began making moves to release albums in a more traditional manner, signing with Ruff Ryders and releasing his debut album, Split Personality, in 2004. The album had had some success, and its single, "Hotel," had topped the charts. Cassidy began readying his follow-up, I'm a Hustla, and its single of the same name, for release in 2005.
But just a few weeks before I'm a Hustla released, Cassidy was arrested and charged based on an incident that happened earlier in the year. Cassidy and two accomplices had fired on three unarmed men, killing one, Desmond Hawkins, and injuring the other two. The event stemmed from an argument earlier in the day where one of Cassidy's crew got into an argument with Roberto Johnson. Johnson, Hawkins, and one other got into a van, unarmed and drove up behind Cassidy's house to confront them when they were attacked.
Cassidy was initially charged with first degree murder, according to MTV News. This was eventually dropped to third degree murder, then bumped back up to first degree once again. In the end, though, prosecutors could only convict Cassidy of involuntary manslaughter. This carried a prison sentence of 11 to 23 months, with credit for seven months he had already served. He was released in 2006 and returned to his music career.
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