A media company that shot an online video showing South Side rapper Chief Keef holding a rifle at a gun range must turn over the entire uncut version of the footage to Cook County prosecutors so they can determine whether the teen violated his probation, a judge ruled today.
Lawyers for Pitchfork Media, an Internet-based music publication, had objected to turning over the footage, claiming an order to do so would violate First Amendment protections.
But Judge Carl Anthony Walker, who sits in Juvenile Court, ruled the footage must be turned over by next Wednesday because prosecutors had met their burden of showing the material was not available through other means.
The video was shot earlier this year when the 17-year-old rapper did an on-camera interview with Pitchfork at a gun range in New York. In the video, Chief Keef, whose real name is Keith Cozart, is reportedly seen with a rifle.
Prosecutors have argued that by holding the rifle the rapper violated the terms of his probation following his conviction last year for pointing a gun at a Chicago cop.
A hearing on the probation violation was scheduled for Dec. 17, the day before the his debute record on a major nationwide label is set to be released. Cozart could be locked up if the judge finds he violated his probation.
Chicago police have been looking into whether Chief Keef and his allies played a role in the Sept. 4 slaying of aspiring rapper Lil Jojo.
The slaying garnered national attention after Chief Keef sent a taunting tweet about the slain 18-year-old, whose real name was Joseph Coleman, hours after he was killed. Chief Keef, who recently signed a deal with Interscope Records, received mostly negative feedback from his more than 200,000 Twitter followers before he claimed his account had been hacked.
