The 25-year-old Grimeyy, real name Arthur Pressley, has garnered tens of millions of views on YouTube, and he has hundreds of thousands of monthly listeners on Spotify. But on Wednesday, he was sentenced to almost eight years in prison on a federal gun charge.
Prosecutors argued his lyrics, rapped over drilling beats and heavy bass, corresponded with more serious crimes. They said he spoke about the local gang 30 Deep and that Pressley was the leader of the group.
Pressley was stopped by St. Louis police officers on Jan. 5, 2021 for having a taillight out and license plates for a different car, where officers then found a Beretta 92FS 9mm pistol next to Pressley.
After the traffic stop, Pressley sent messages to the original purchaser of the gun, asking him to falsify a bill of sale to one of the other occupants of the vehicle. He produced a falsified copy of the bill of sale in October, on the first day of his trial on the felony charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Most sentencing hearings for felons-in-possession last around an hour, but Pressley’s took all morning, starting at 9:30 a.m. and not wrapping up until around 2 p.m. The hearing was also more well-attended than the average sentencing hearing, with about 30 people — almost all Pressley supporters — in the courtroom's public seating area.
The recommended sentencing guidelines for Pressley's crime and his criminal history was between 41 and 51 months. But Assistant U.S. Attorney Cassandra Wiemken asked for Judge Stephen Clark to impose the maximum possible sentence of 10 years. Wiemken said that the longer sentence was warranted because Pressley was a "prolific possessor of firearms" and "a gang leader" who had "no respect for the law."
During the hearing, the prosecution displayed photos posted to social media that showed Pressley holding firearms. They also played excerpts from Pressley's music videos, including one in which the rapper gets a simulated blowjob outside the very courthouse where the hearing was taking place.
"My rap name is an image I have to portray. I have a certain type of fan base," Pressley told the judge.
He added: "I feel like I'm being targeted because of my rap name. I'm Arthur Pressley. I'm a human being."
Wiemken said that Pressley's being a rapper was largely irrelevant, aside from the music videos that seemed to prove Pressley did possess weapons despite a prior felony conviction making his doing so illegal. She said that what should impact Pressley's sentencing is that he was the leader of the so-called "30 Deep Gang," whose members she alleged had committed assaults and other crimes involving drugs and violence.
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