Pras‘s former attorney, David Kenner, has pleaded guilty to leaking confidential federal grand jury files to two reporters in 2023, which is in direct violation of federal rules.
According to court documents obtained by HipHopDX, the United States District Court in Washington, DC, has found probable cause that the ex-attorney for the Fugees rapper “committed misdemeanor contempt in violation of 18 USC 401 (c)” by leaking some of the files to the jurors in question.
Kenner is expected to plead guilty to the charge on Friday (January 26), where he will receive his sentence.
“Unfortunately, former attorney David Kenner failed at every turn to competently represent Pras over the course of this lengthy legal battle,” said Erica Dumas, the spokesperson for Pras, in a statement furnished to HipHopDX.
Earlier this month, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly called for a three-day hearing to review some of David Kenner’s practices during his futile defense for the Fugees star, who is currently facing 20 years behind bars on 10 criminal counts.
Though the attorney has maintained that he had his client’s best interests at heart, Vulture has reported that he currently is in the hot seat for several reasons such as outsourcing most of the casework to a medical malpractice lawyer who operated remotely.
Kenner is also accused of taking more than a year to file his first motion, teaming up with people with practically no experience in criminal litigation and concealing a serious injury that hindered his productivity.
Despite his alleged incompetence and underperformance, prosecutor Nicole Lockhart maintains that “unsuccessful is not the same as ineffective.”
Pras Asks For Retrial, Alleges Ex-Lawyer Used AI For Botched Closing Argument
The justice presiding over the hearing, however, is still giving Pras the benefit of the doubt. Over the coming weeks, she will either sentence him, grant him a retrial, or allow plea-bargain negotiations.
Back in April, Pras was convicted of money laundering and illegitimate lobbying tactics. Just a few months later, he began working toward bringing his case back to life on grounds of his ex-attorney apparently messing up “the single most important portion” of his defense by using generative AI to put together a closing statement.
“Kenner’s closing argument made frivolous arguments, misapprehended the required elements, conflated the schemes and ignored critical weaknesses in the government’s case,” the New Jersey native’s new legal team stated in a brief. “The AI program failed Kenner, and Kenner failed [Pras] Michel. The closing argument was deficient, unhelpful and a missed opportunity that prejudiced the defense.”
They also pointed out that the star lawyer, who famously represented Death Row Records in the ’90s, has a financial stake in a company that partners with the technology he used and then showed off about.
