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By Jamie Burton
Senior TV & Film Reporter (Interviews)
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Rapper Kodak Black's attorney is openly questioning why Hunter Biden didn't get the same treatment as his client, despite being charged with the same offense.
Black was charged with the same federal weapons crime as Biden but Black was sentenced to more than three years in prison while President Joe Biden's son made a plea deal to avoid jail time.
After less than a year in prison, Black's sentence was commuted by former President Donald Trump in January 2021.
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Both Black and Biden pleaded guilty to illegally owning a gun while a drug user, after they both denied drug use when applying for their gun permit. Biden had also pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges.
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Black's criminal defense attorney, Bradford Cohen, and many prominent conservatives have slammed the different sentences.
Florida GOP political candidate Lavern Spicer pointed out that other rappers have also allegedly been unfairly treated compared with Biden.
"Hunter Biden, Kodak Black, Lil Wayne and Lil Boosie all committed the same exact federal gun crime," she wrote on Tuesday, explaining that Black, Wayne and Boosie all went to jail. "Hunter Biden gets off scot free. Are the feds racist?"
After hearing the Justice Department had reached a plea deal with Biden, Cohen shared his thoughts with Fox News Digital.
"There's no such thing as not getting jail time on a gun charge, on any kind of gun charge," Cohen said. "I've never seen anyone where this offense was charged and they didn't get some sort of prison sentence. And in fact, most of the time in federal court, you very rarely see people get anything but a prison sentence."
Cohen further expanded on his point on his Instagram account, using images of the media coverage of Biden's plea deal. "2 tiers of justice? Kodak was charged for the same crime. Got over 3 years. Mr. Biden will not serve a day. Feels right? Do FBI agents and federal authorities take cases personally?" He asked his 71,400 followers.
A number of people made the same comparisons as Spicer did on social media, bringing up Lil Wayne's criminal record. He has been found guilty of a number of firearm-related crimes over the past 15 years, including attempted criminal possession of a weapon in 2010, and for transporting a loaded handgun on his private jet in 2020. Trump pardoned Lil Wayne in 2021.
Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene made her feelings about Biden and Black's treatments abundantly clear, suggesting there was nepotism and racial elements at play. "Unfortunately Kodak's daddy was not President. And he's not white," she wrote on Tuesday on Twitter.
While Black and Biden were charged with similar gun crimes, their adjoining charges were different in their respective situations.
In 2018, Black was found guilty of firearms possession by a felon, possession of a stolen firearm and possession of marijuana. He was sentenced to a year in prison and was released after eight months. In May 2019, Black was charged with two counts of making a false statement on a governmental form, where he was found to have lied on a form while attempting to purchase a firearm. Initially pleading not guilty, TMZ later reported that he had taken a plea bargain and was sentenced to 46 months in prison.
Biden's crimes were related to the same firearms charge, and two counts of misdemeanor tax charges; he pled guilty to all three counts. It is understood he reached a plea deal with the Justice Department, which Jonathan Tobin, editor-in-chief of JNS.org, told Newsweek is a "sweetheart deal" proving "we have a two-tiered justice system."
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