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LOS ANGELES (CN) — A California court of appeals upheld the murder conviction of a man whose 17-year-old son shot and killed rapper PnB Rock inside a Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles in 2022.
A jury found 44-year-old Freddie Lee Trone guilty of murder and two counts of robbery for his role in the killing of rapper PnB Rock. Security footage showed Trone dropping off his son, identified in court only as J.T., because he was a minor at the time, outside a popular South Los Angeles Roscoe’s restaurant.
Wearing a ski mask and carrying a gun, J.T. entered the restaurant and approached the rapper, whose real name is Rakim Allen and who was dining with his fiancée, identified in court as Stephanie S. The couple was wearing roughly half a million dollars in jewelry. Prosecutors said J.T. shot Allen several times, stole his jewelry and fled in Trone’s waiting Buick. Police later found the vehicle burned.
The next day, Trone sent text messages to his son, including: “Just hold tight. Everything coming together,” and “Just stay calm and cool. No crazy talk. All good vibes. I love you. Imma call you in a couple of hours.”
J.T. was charged with murder but found not competent to stand trial and placed in a juvenile facility. Another defendant, Tremont Jones, was charged with two counts of robbery for helping Trone and his son. A former Roscoe’s employee, Jones, spotted Allen and his fiancée in the restaurant and called Trone. Security footage showed Jones handing Trone an object that prosecutors said was the gun later used in the murder.
During the trial, Trone testified that the object was marijuana, not a gun, and said he was afraid of J.T. “having any weapons around.” He testified that J.T. had been diagnosed as bipolar and with a mood disorder, “goes off and on” his medication, “can go from cool to upset in a matter of minutes” and had threatened his biological mother.
Trone and Jones were tried together and both were convicted. Trone was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 31 years, while Jones was sentenced to 12 years.
In his appeal, Trone argued there was insufficient evidence to support his murder conviction because he never entered the restaurant and there was no evidence he told his son to shoot the rapper. The three-judge panel disagreed, finding “substantial evidence to support the jury’s conclusion that Trone was a major participant in the robbery that led to Allen’s murder and acted with reckless indifference to human life.”
“The jury could have reasonably concluded Trone had a vital role in planning the robbery during his meeting outside Roscoe’s with Jones, which was shortly after Jones witnessed Allen and Stephanie wearing half a million dollars’ worth of jewelry,” the panel wrote in their Thursday opinion. “The jury could have reasonably concluded from the texts Trone sentJ.T., after the robbery that Trone controlled and directed J.T.’s actions.”
The judges added: “The evidence shows Trone significantly increased the risks by arming his mentally unstable son — who he admitted was dangerous and should never be given a gun — and sending J.T. into Roscoe’s alone to rob Allen. Under these circumstances, the jury could have reasonably concluded from Trone’s failure to minimize risks that he acted with reckless indifference to human life.”
Jones had appealed his sentence, arguing the trial court judge erred in using his prior conviction to impose a higher sentence. The appeals court rejected that argument as well.
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