Offset Speaks Out for the First Time Since Jail Release

Offset, the Migos member who had been imprisoned in Georgia from April until his release on Dec. 4, has broken his silence about his time behind bars. The rapper sat down with WBS-TV 2 in Atlanta to discuss his stint in a Bulloch County jail and the slow-moving legal machinations that finally freed him. “It was like a slap in the face," Offset says of his incarceration. "I didn’t understand where it came from or why I had to do it." At other points during the interview, which can be seen in full below, the rapper speaks about his time reading the Bible (he says he related especially to the story of Solomon, "when God took [everything] away from him out the blue." Offset was sentenced to five years' probation, ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and banished from the Ogeechee circuit, which is comprised of Georgia's Bulloch, Effingham, Screven and Jenkins counties. (The rapper would say in his interview that "banishment" sounds like something done to terrorists, rather than a legal term.)

Offset, whose given name is Kiari Cephus, was arrested this April alongside his groupmates Takeoff and Quavo and 13 members of their entourage when their vans were raided by police during a concert at Georgia Southern University. Authorities found less than one ounce of marijuana, a bottle of lean and several guns. (In the WBS-TV interview, the rapper maintains that none of the weapons or substances were his.) Unlike the other 15 arrestees, he was held in jail due to his prior felony convictions. After being denied bail no less than three times, Offset was freed after entering an Alford plea to rioting in a penal institution--stemming from a fight that was caught on video--in exchange for which prosecutors agreed to drop the other eight charges against him. (An Alford plea differs from a typical guilty plea in that the defendant does not admit his or her guilt, but rather acknowledges that the prosecution has sufficient evidence against them to make a case.)

In addition to Offset, his counsel and the prosecutor, WSB-TV spoke to Charles Mittelstadt, a criminal defense investigator who was in the courtroom during the hearings. Mittelstadt, who has represented Gucci Mane, Waka Flocka Flame, T.I. and other rappers, explains that there was pressure put on Offset to take the plea deal, as prosecutors demanded that all defendants cop pleas or they would be taken off the table. "The exposure to significant prison sentences resulting from overcharging is what led these defendants to plead," he says.

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