The Juju depicter in the remake of the 1972 thriller film breaks down in tears and insists that he ‘didn’t rape anybody’ after a Los Angeles jury reads the verdict.
AceShowbiz –Kaalan Walker is apparently going to spend his life in prison. The actor portraying gang member Juju in the “Superfly” reboot is facing up to 100 years to life in jail after he was found guilty of serial rape.
On Monday, April 18, per Rolling Stone, the 27-year-old actor/rapper was convicted of raping six victims, three of them are 16-year-old aspiring models, and sexually assaulting a seventh woman during a series of what prosecutors called “sophisticated” attacks between 2013 and late 2018. He was acquitted of additional charges related to three of the 10 victims in the case, including two charges of forcible rape.
He’s facing up to 100 years to life at sentencing. While the split verdict was read by a Los Angeles jury in the courtroom, Kaalan hung his head and burst into tears. “I didn’t rape anybody, your honor. I did not rape anybody,” he exclaimed as he was led away in handcuffs after the jury departed.
Kaalan’s lawyer, Andrew Flier, quickly vowed an appeal. “I don’t think he got a fair trial, and the fact that he had three acquittals on three of the victims speaks volumes,” the attorney told the outlet. “I think it will make his appellate issues a lot more meritorious.”
“But I’m disappointed about the verdicts,” Andrew further said. He went on to explain, “The defense was precluded from calling witnesses to show the same pattern but no rape. The judge did not allow us to call witnesses about that same issue, but on the reverse.”
Meanwhile, Deputy District Attorney Cynthia Wallace believed that “the jury gave these victims back their voices” with the verdict. The DA also insisted that the actor’s attacks were “very sophisticated.”
“This was very sophisticated. He picked these girls and he appealed to their dreams and hopes and name-dropped Drake and used his connection to Halle Berry to get these girls somewhere and gain their trust,” Cynthia said. “Once they were there, it wasn’t about doing photoshoots, it was about assaulting them.”
Kaalan, who also appeared in Halle’s 2017 indie film “Kings“, was arrested in 2018 for allegedly sexually assaulting the victims. In December last year, he pleaded not guilty to 6 counts of rape, 2 counts of unlawful intercourse with a minor and multiple felonies.
During the April 13 trial, Cynthia told jurors that Kaalan name-dropped Drake when persuading a 16-year-old girl to film an impromptu sex tape at his apartment. It was also unveiled that Kaalan used the Canadian rapper’s name with the other 10 victims. The DA said, “There’s no evidence he had any connection to Drake. It was just a thing that he used to lure the girls in. It was a trap, a ruse, his way of getting these girls.”
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