Boosie BadAzz to Be Released on Bond After Arrest on Federal Gun Charge

Rapper Boosie Badazz is set to be released on bond on his federal gun charge after a judge rejected a request by prosecutors to keep him behind bars even longer.

Boosie (real name Torrence Hatch) was arrested last week over a May 6 traffic stop in which federal prosecutors say the New Orleans rapper was found with a handgun — an alleged violation of a federal law prohibiting former felons from possessing firearms.

Though Boosie was granted pre-trial release on a $50,000 bond at a hearing on Tuesday, prosecutors quickly asked for that order to be put on hold while they appeal the ruling. But in an order issued Wednesday (June 21), the same magistrate judge denied that request.

As of Wednesday afternoon, it was unclear when Boosie would be released or if he already had been released. Neither his attorneys nor the government immediately returned requests for comment.

Boosie was suddenly arrested on June 14 at a California courthouse, just minutes after a court appearance in which charges filed by state prosecutors had been dropped — charges that had been based on that same May traffic stop.

In a criminal complaint unsealed by a judge on June 16, federal prosecutors offered key new details about the May 6 stop. It was was sparked by local police spotting Boosie in an Instagram video of a “known gang member,” sporting a “black handgun tucked into his back waistband of his pants.” Police then used an “Airborne Law Enforcement Unit” to locate the rapper in a neighborhood of San Diego they claim is gang-associated, where he was allegedly found in the car with the gun.

Though the state law charges were dropped last week, Boosie is now accused by federal prosecutors of so-called “felon in possession of a firearm,” since the rapper was previously convicted on drug charges in Louisiana in 2011. The charge carries as much as a 10-year prison sentence, but sentences can vary widely based on cooperation and other factors.

It’s unclear why federal investigators chose to charge Boosie after the state-level case was dismissed. Under U.S. Department of Justice internal policies, prosecutors sometimes choose to avoid filing federal cases after earlier state law charges. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorneys Office in San Diego declined to comment on that issue last week.

In the Tuesday order releasing him from jail ahead of trial, Boosie was ordered to pay the $50,000 bond and surrender his passport. But crucially, the judge said he would be allowed to travel “to perform and travel to/from performances with advanced not to pre-trial services.” That came after his lawyers told Billboard that procedural delays after his arrest had left him “forced to cancel a number of shows over this historic Juneteenth weekend.”