Rapper Tekashi 69 has been released from a Manhattan prison early due to COVD-19 concerns.
The Wrap reported lawyers for the 23-year-old "Fefe" rapper, whose real name is Daniel Hernandez, requested compassionate release in March, saying his asthma made him at-risk amid the pandemic.
“Mr. Hernandez has been complaining to prison officials this week of shortness of breath, but apparently the warden of his facility will not allow Mr. Hernandez to go to the hospital despite the recommendation of the facility’s medical director that Mr. Hernandez be treated by a doctor at a hospital,” his lawyers said.
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He will serve the remainder of his sentence at home. U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer, who sentenced Hernandez to two years in prison for firearms and racketeering charges in December, said he would be moved to home confinement.
“In light of the heightened medical risk presented to Mr. Hernandez by the COVID-19 pandemic, there are extraordinary and compelling reasons to reduce Mr. Hernandez’s sentence,” he said.
"Had the Court known that sentencing Mr. Hernandez to serve the final four months of his term in a federal prison would have exposed him to a heightened health risk, the Court would have directed that these four months be served instead in home confinement," Engelmayer wrote in his order advising release earlier this week, The Wrap reported.
Hernandez will be electronically monitored while serving the remaining four months of his sentence on home confinement.
The Associated Press reported Hernandez faced a minimum of 37 years in prison but got a more lenient sentence for testifying against members of the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods. His charges were also in relation to crimes that included orchestrating a shooting in which an innocent bystander was wounded.
He was originally set to be released July 31.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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