Pop Smoke Murder Defendant Takes Plea Deal With 29 Years in Prison

The only adult defendant charged with the 2020 murder of rising rapper Pop Smoke accepted a plea deal from prosecutors Wednesday, capping a nearly five-year prosecution of multiple defendants in the deadly home-invasion robbery that shocked the hip-hop industry. Corey Walker, accused of leading three juveniles to the rented Airbnb the morning of the shooting, pleaded guilty to home invasion robbery with gun and gang enhancements and is expected to be sentenced to 29 years in prison.

Prosecutors dropped a murder charge under the deal. Instead, Walker pleaded guilty to a new voluntary manslaughter charge with aggravating factors, stating the crime was carried out with planning and a “high degree of cruelty, viciousness and callousness.” Walker also pleaded guilty to the related robbery of a woman at the home. The additional two-year sentences for those charges are due to run concurrently with the 29 years. The pleas averted a jury trial that was scheduled to start this week in downtown Los Angeles. Sentencing is set for Feb. 21, 2025.

According to prosecutors, Walker and his cohorts planned the robbery to steal the cash, thick gold chain and diamond-studded watch that Pop Smoke, 20, had flashed on social media a day earlier. The group was able to locate the rental home because the Brooklyn rapper, born Bashar Barakah Jackson, posted a photo of a gift bag with the rental home address listed on a label.

Walker appeared in court in custody, flanked by his defense lawyers Kellen Davis and Deion Benjamin. Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Hilary Williams asked if he had reviewed the 17-page agreement with his lawyers. “Yes ma’am,” he said. Williams asked if Walker agreed that he provided a 9mm firearm to one of the juveniles. “Yes,” he replied. She also asked if it was true he and his cohorts sold Jackson’s diamond-studded Rolex for just $2,000. “Yes,” he replied softly as his grandmother and young daughter watched from the gallery.

Walker, 24, was originally charged with one count of murder, two counts of robbery and one count of burglary. He had been facing the possibility of life without parole if convicted as charged. When prosecutors first announced Walker’s arrest in July 2020, they said he would be eligible for the death penalty because Pop Smoke was fatally shot during an alleged robbery. (Subsequent DA George Gascón later instituted a policy of not pursing the death penalty and recently elected DA Nathan Hochman has said the death penalty “should only be used in the rarest of cases.”)

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Three other defendants, including the 15-year-old shooter, were charged as juveniles. The teen triggerman admitted in May 2023 that he shot the celebrated “Dior” rapper during a home invasion robbery around 4 a.m. on February 19, 2020. He was sentenced to 50 years to life in prison, but under California law, the maximum age for juvenile detention is 25 years old.) The eldest of the juveniles, who was 17 years old at the time, admitted to voluntary manslaughter and home invasion robbery at a hearing in April 2023. The third juvenile, 16 at the time, also settled his case and was sent to a post-conviction juvenile housing facility, a source confirmed to Rolling Stone.

Walker was 19 at the time of the slaying and was described by prosecutors as a ringleader of the group. They said he “facilitated the crimes by not only surveilling the crime scene before the crimes were committed but serving as the researcher, getaway driver, weapons provider and planner of this home invasion robbery.” Walker’s prior defense lawyer, Christopher Darden, disagreed, arguing in court filings obtained by Rolling Stone that Walker “did not plan this crime” and, in the “worst case scenario,” was only the driver who “remained outside seated in the driver’s seat” of the getaway car.

According to police and prosecutors, the juvenile defendants, some in ski masks, made their way up to an outdoor balcony and burst into the upstairs bedroom of the Airbnb rental home where Jackson was taking a shower. Prosecutors allege Walker was in communication with the juveniles via cell phone during the incident that ended with Jackson being pistol-whipped and shot three times in the back with a Beretta 9mm semiautomatic pistol.

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A police detective testified at a preliminary hearing that a Google account linked to Walker researched the rental home before the slaying and then searched “Rolex oyster perpetual datejust” at 5:15 a.m., less than an hour after the first 911 call was made.

In his failed motion to get Walker’s murder charge dismissed, Darden argued that his former client was not a major participant in the deadly shooting. “It is clear from the evidence that [Walker] did not enter the house, was not armed, and did not personally kill the victim. Moreover, the evidence is clear that the defendant did not share the actual killer’s intent to kill,” Darden wrote in his October 2021 filing.

“The defendant was aware that a weapon was being used,” but he “was he was careful to insist” that “if it became necessary for the suspects to defend themselves, they should use a flower vase rather than shoot someone,” Darden wrote. “It was only after the robbers exited the house and reentered the vehicle that [Walker] learned of the shooting. In response, [Walker] assaulted the shooter.” 

“My client is remorseful and lives with the trauma daily and struggles to atone for his actions that led to his incarceration,” Theida Salazar, the defense lawyer for the 15-year-old shooter previously told Rolling Stone. “He was born in custody to a mother incarcerated and grew up in a community that compelled him to identify and associate with gangs,” Salazar said.

The lawyer called Jackson’s murder a tragic ending for a young man and promising artist. “Mr. Jackson was poised to make a global impact,” Salazar said. “There’s no way to gauge the heights he could have attained, and there’s no replacing him or his contributions to the arts.”