Kodak Black, whose given name is Dieuson Octave, was found guilty of violating his house arrest. However, it is still unclear if this will mean longer jail time for the Floridan rapper.
Octave, who was given a year of house arrest and five years of probation in 2016, was found guilty on five of six counts of violating the terms of his house arrest, according to the Sun Sentinel. Judge Michael Lynch found that Octave went without authorization to a strip club in Miami-Dade and a boxing match in Ohio. He was also found to have frequently disrupted the anger management sessions, which he was required to attend, by burping excessively.
His lawyers, on the other hand, contested this, saying that these violations were not intentionally done by their client. According to Vibe, the attorneys said that Octave's visit to the boxing match and the strip club were legitimate work engagements, and, as such, were allowed as per the terms of his probation. They argued that it was simply a matter of miscommunication, as the probation officer was not informed about the said activities. They also said that his frequent burping during the anger management sessions was due to a medical condition.
During the trial, Octave was also discovered to have assaulted a bartender of Club Lexx, the strip club he visited. Jennifer Cunningham, the accuser, said that Octave kicked and punched her after she told him to get down from the bar, which the rapper allegedly climbed onto. However, her testimony, which she gave on April 21, is contested by other witnesses, including her fellow Club Lexx employees, who said that the assault did not happen. According to them, Cunningham was drunk at the time and was the one who made a move on Octave, grabbing his genitals at some point.
Cunningham said that she will be filing a civil suit against Octave. However, the case remains open because the bartender has not yet gone to the police station to discuss the case with D.D. Rollins, the detective assigned to the investigation. Furthermore, the hearing was for Octave's probation violation hearing, and not a trial for assault. As such, the jury was not required to decide whether he was also guilty of the charge brought forward by Cunningham.
Octave will again be appearing in court on May 4 for the judge's decision on his case. He stands to face up to eight years in prison for violating house arrest. Aside from this trial, he also faces a charge of criminal sexual conduct in Florence, South Carolina.
