West Coast Connection Forum
DUBCC - Tha Connection => Outbound Connection => Topic started by: Trizz on April 02, 2004, 04:20:30 PM
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A RAP IN PRAISE OF HIS LAWYER
By: Denis Hamil (NYC's Daily News)
Same dance, different music.
In the late 1980s, Stephen Murphy made his reputation as the lawyer who walked both of his white clients in the racially charged Howard Beach and Bensonhurst trials.
These days, Murphy is representing rappers charged with trying to kill cops.
Last year in Queens, Murphy represented rapper Elaikim Johnson, who was charged with attempted homicide of five officers in the Queensbridge projects. That charge carries a life sentence, the same as murder of an ordinary citizen.
At that trial, Murphy shredded the testimony of the cops into blue confetti and won his client a full acquittal. After the verdict, Johnson hugged Murphy and said, "Murphy, you my n-----." It was a moment of pure New York irony, a black rapper using the unprintable N-word as a term of endearment for the most high-profile white Howard Beach trial lawyer.
Word spread. Soon a story about Murphy appeared in Felon Magazine, a hip-hop monthly. Murphy was invited to a huge party at the Mars 2112 hip-hop club for Nas, another famous rapper. "I was the only white guy there," Murphy says. "Most people thought I was a record producer." Murphy also was invited to various parties in the Queensbridge housing projects and a hip-hop cookout in Corona Park. "For years, it's been just too easy for cops to arrest some black kid in the projects and concoct a story," Murphy says of the dirty practice known as testilying. "The defendants usually couldn't afford good attorneys. Facing heavy time, they'd cop pleas even though they were innocent," he says. "Now some of them are making money in the rap business. Or have loyal pals like 50 Cent who don't forget where they come from. And they hire a trial lawyer like me - and I'm not cheap - and you see that these cases are put together with blatant lies."
TruthTime
In Murphy's latest case, which ended in an acquittal on Oct. 10, the notorious rapper Curtis (50 Cent) Jackson personally paid Murphy to defend a buddy named Barja Walter, 28. Walter was charged with shooting at five police officers in the Louis Armstrong housing projects in Bedford-Stuyvesant on New Year's Eve 2000. "The assistant DA was a really gifted lawyer named Tom Ridges, who was a tough cop for 13 years," says Murphy, whose record in murder trials is 35-0. "I knew I had my work cut out for me."
Murphy hired ex-cop private investigators Billy McClelland and Bruce Robertson from Sunrise Securities of Brooklyn, who videotaped the crime scene, scrutinized evidence and interviewed witnesses. Once again, Murphy found big discrepancies in the official police story. "On the stand, the cops started telling lies to cover up for lies," Murphy said. "They gave one version of the story to my client's Parole Board hearing, another version when applying for a search warrant and yet another version in court. "I told the jury in summation, 'Hey, there are a thousand versions of a lie but only one version of the truth.'"
No gun was ever found, and the jury believed the testimony of Walter's then 13-year-old brother, Faheem, who said that on the night of the alleged crime, he threw a cherry bomb near an unmarked van but didn't know police were sitting inside. The jury delivered the acquittal in an hour and 15 minutes, which included a lunch break. "I would have voted not guilty in a minute," says Barbara Cobham, an alternate juror at the eight-day trial. "Murphy's a real ball of fire. He had the police officers so confused that I almost felt sorry for them. But I didn't because they were trying to send a man away for life on testimony that Murphy proved just wasn't believable." Cobham said that at the end of the trial, all the jurors shook Murphy's hand and asked for his card. "I hope I never need that card, but if I or someone I care about ever gets in trouble, he's the first one I'm calling," Cobham said.
Barja Walter is glad he called Murphy. "I'm 28, and I was looking at the rest of my life in a cage," said Walter from Rikers Island, where he's still being held for the parole violation, but who Murphy says should be home for the holidays. "And then I read about Murphy in a magazine. My friend 50 Cent agreed to pay him. Man, Murphy's better than 'The Practice,' better than 'Law & Order,'" Walter added. "He fights like his own life is on the line. All the guys in the Rikers law library ask me for Murphy's phone number, but I tell them he's about the work, yo. The man gotta get paid for giving you back your life. I owe my life to the Lord, my loyal wife, to 50 Cent and to Stephen Murphy. He the man."
i wanna see dipset and your favorite rappers do somthing like this....
50= Hood represenitive to the fullest
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i smell speechless 50 cent haterz
is that you luke?
is that you jim jones?
8)
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good for this guy
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you smell that? *sniff sniff* i smell on the low hating
;D
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That's good to go. Glad to see 50's givin back to the hood... I bet most rappers wouldn't do that...
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At that trial, Murphy shredded the testimony of the cops into blue confetti and won his client a full acquittal. After the verdict, Johnson hugged Murphy and said, "Murphy, you my n-----." It was a moment of pure New York irony, a black rapper using the unprintable N-word as a term of endearment for the most high-profile white Howard Beach trial lawyer.
LMFAO
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At that trial, Murphy shredded the testimony of the cops into blue confetti and won his client a full acquittal. After the verdict, Johnson hugged Murphy and said, "Murphy, you my n-----." It was a moment of pure New York irony, a black rapper using the unprintable N-word as a term of endearment for the most high-profile white Howard Beach trial lawyer.
LMFAO
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That's a nice move from 50...thanks for the article.
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you cant buy respect in the hood. i bet 50 didnt even know this crack head, he just tring to salvage the little bit of credibility he has left, he's a snitch!
who you think is taking care of his crew? the real kony, killa! all the cases, the 2 shootouts last year and this:
http://www.rnews.com/Story.cfm?ID=15198&rnews_story_type=18
"I seen it time, business and friendship
Friendships ended, business attended, clips get extended
Lawyers get called, accountants get faxed
That was my man, well I wish that he meant it"
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That's a nice move from 50...thanks for the article.
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dipset has territory in rochester whoopy doo lol
50 was doin it from queens down to baltimore
down with the hatian mob and grape street g's
dipset isnt even a real blood set
julez claim 9 trey eastside gangsta piru
dipset is a rap group those 50 kids down with "dipset"
rockin pink HOLD NO WEIGHT
aint no "dipset" here in jersey just straight REAL
gang bangin ridah's Latin kings would shit on dipset
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'i was the one flooding qb with cocaine' - camron on hot 97
50 is a snitch, he dont want it with the dips. end of dicussion
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who cares
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That was a pretty thoughful move on 50 Cent's part, but I would hardly consider it giving back to the hood. This guy may have been innocent, but I would bet that at some point down the line he'll buy a lawyer for a friend thats actually guilty and maybe get him off.
Black Star bought a black owned bookshop that was bankrupt and have run it ever since, when they got some money from their album. I consider that a far better way of giving back to the hood than hiring a lawyer for an old mate.
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dipset has territory in rochester whoopy doo lol
50 was doin it from queens down to baltimore
down with the hatian mob and grape street g's
dipset isnt even a real blood set
julez claim 9 trey eastside gangsta piru
dipset is a rap group those 50 kids down with "dipset"
rockin pink HOLD NO WEIGHT
aint no "dipset" here in jersey just straight REAL
gang bangin ridah's Latin kings would shit on dipset
Translate plz.....
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'i was the one flooding qb with cocaine' - camron on hot 97
must be true then.
Cam >> Pablo Escobar
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dipset has territory in rochester whoopy doo lol
50 was doin it from queens down to baltimore
down with the hatian mob and grape street g's
dipset isnt even a real blood set
julez claim 9 trey eastside gangsta piru
dipset is a rap group those 50 kids down with "dipset"
rockin pink HOLD NO WEIGHT
aint no "dipset" here in jersey just straight REAL
gang bangin ridah's Latin kings would shit on dipset
Translate plz.....
50 cent was selling coke from newyork down to baltimore
50 cent is down with the hatian mob (mafia cartel from hati)
50 cent also has connections with grape street ( a set that broke off from being a branch of crips from watts note the refrence in g units "ask somebody" "you know about them grape street gangstas G'd up rollin that weed up nigga get out of line he stabb shot up or with a bat beat up"
the guys arrested for dealing and murder claiming dipset
were a bunch of dipset dick riders who happen to have heart
juelz santana from dipset doesnt claim dipset as his real gang set he claims nine trey piru blood which is a blood gang
and in newjersey we dont have gangs named after rappers
we have real shit
there i translated
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that was nice of 50
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dipset has territory in rochester whoopy doo lol
50 was doin it from queens down to baltimore
down with the hatian mob and grape street g's
dipset isnt even a real blood set
julez claim 9 trey eastside gangsta piru
dipset is a rap group those 50 kids down with "dipset"
rockin pink HOLD NO WEIGHT
aint no "dipset" here in jersey just straight REAL
gang bangin ridah's Latin kings would shit on dipset
Translate plz.....
50 cent was selling coke from newyork down to baltimore
50 cent is down with the hatian mob (mafia cartel from hati)
50 cent also has connections with grape street ( a set that broke off from being a branch of crips from watts note the refrence in g units "ask somebody" "you know about them grape street gangstas G'd up rollin that weed up nigga get out of line he stabb shot up or with a bat beat up"
the guys arrested for dealing and murder claiming dipset
were a bunch of dipset dick riders who happen to have heart
juelz santana from dipset doesnt claim dipset as his real gang set he claims nine trey piru blood which is a blood gang
and in newjersey we dont have gangs named after rappers
we have real shit
there i translated
go tell disney all them ducktales doggie
i came into this thread with real facts, you came into this thread with peanut butter and jelly internet rumours.
dont believe everything you read on g-unit forums :)
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i have 3 cousins in queens and one whos is in his 30s
and he knew 50 before 50 was 50 when 50 was known in the hood as boo
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once again, go tell disney all your ducktales. i only believe it on the internet if its on a official news website. give it up man, those forums you go to are wack b.
(http://www.antoniogenna.net/doppiaggio/anim/ducktales.jpg)