Update: Prosecution, Defense Rest Their Case in Lil Boosie Murder Trial

Both the prosecution and defense rested their respective case in the murder trial of Lil Boosie on Thursday (May 10).

Baton Rouge, Louisiana newspaper, The Advocate, reports that minutes after prosecutors rested their case against Boosie on Thursday afternoon, the defense did the same, but without calling a witness to take the stand.

“Based upon the burden of proof lying with the state, the defense rests with the witnesses the state has put on,” Jason Williams, one of Hatch’s attorneys, said.

Jurors had the option of using the rest of Thursday to hear closing arguments and even possibly head into deliberations, but instead chose to recess for the duration of the day. They’ll return Friday to hear the closing arguments and possibly begin deliberations.

Boosie, real name Torrance Hatch, is on trial on a first-degree murder charge. All along prosecutors have argued their case in trying to contend that Hatch, 29, hired Michael “Marlo Mike” Louding to kill Terry Boyd in October 2009.

On Wednesday, the prosecution played Boosie’s lyrics off a song called “187” for the jury to hear. On the track, Boosie raps, “Yo Marlo/He drive a Monte Carlo/That bitch gray, I want that nigga dead today.” According to computer forensics expert Konstantinos Dimetrelos, who had examined Boosie’s hard drive, the Baton Rouge rapper recorded the verse less than an hour before the murder took place.

On Thursday, prosecutors cross examined their final two witnesses: Carvis “Donkey” Webb, Boosie’s first cousin and Rochelle Wagner, Boyd’s sister and mother of Boosie’s child. According to WAFB 9 News in Baton Rouge, Webb testified that he was in Atlanta at the time of the murder, while Wagner claimed that she didn’t know anything about a homicide and although Boyd and Boosie weren’t friends, they weren’t enemies.

Boosie is currently serving an eight-year prison term on drug charges at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola.—Jakinder Singh