Pras Michel's attempt to get a retrial due to his lawyer's actions during his political conspiracy case was unsuccessful. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly decided that his defense attorney using generative AI for his closing arguments wasn't enough to warrant a serious miscarriage of justice. The AI program notably attributed lyrics from Diddy’s song, “I’ll Be Missing You,” to Michel, among other errors. Despite this, Kollar-Kotelly didn't feel the mistakes were enough to impact the jury's ruling.
"Michel does not explain how this mistake—the mistaken attribution of a Puff Daddy song in the closing argument—resulted in prejudice. Specifically, Michel has not shown that there is a reasonable probability that the result of his trial would have differed had Kenner correctly attributed a lyric to him," Kollar-Kotelly said, as caught by AllHipHop. "Notably, the content derived from the AI program did not relate to any evidence in the case, only general sympathetic statements and one lyrical quote.”
Pras Arrives At His Trial In Washington D.C.
The jury in the trial found Michel guilty on a total of 10 counts. They include conspiracy and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government. The prosecution accused him of funneling money from Malaysian financer Jho Low into influencing various United States government actions. He allegedly pumped money into Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign as well as influencing an extradition case on behalf of China during Donald Trump's presidency.
The judge didn't set a date for Pras' sentencing, but he's currently out of jail until that happens. He recently made headlines for dropping a Lauryn Hill diss track after the Fugees canceled several tour dates. Be on the lookout for further updates on Pras Michel on HotNewHipHop.
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