Using Rap Lyrics as Evidence in Prosecution?

Can your defendants’ artistic expressions be used against them in the court of law?

Not necessarily, according to the New Jersey Supreme Court, which earlier this week ruled a defendant’s rap lyrics were improperly used as evidence to convict him.

The case in question involved Vonte Skinner, who was found guilty of attempted murder in 2008 for the 2005 shooting of Lamont Peterson. In 2012, an appellate panel deemed the use of rap lyrics in Skinner's trial prejudicial. The state appealed the decision.

On Monday, Aug. 4, New Jersey’s Supreme Court ruled rap lyrics cannot be used as evidence unless they include “a strong nexus” to the crime in question.

“One would not presume that Bob Marley, who wrote the well-known song ‘I Shot the Sheriff,’ actually shot a sheriff, or that Edgar Allan Poe buried a man beneath his floorboards, as depicted in his short story 'The Tell-Tale Heart,' simply because of their respective artistic endeavors on those subjects,” wrote New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Jayne Lavecchia.

Admitting rap lyrics as evidence has become a hot-button issue in courts across the country. Some critics, including the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, contend the lyrics can unfairly prejudice judges and juries, adding the lyrics are often meant to portray a fictitious gangster-like persona. At the same time, some prosecutors argue lyrics can provide clues to a suspect’s state of mind or even serve as a blatant confession in some cases.

The ACLU of New Jersey identified 14 cases where rap lyrics were used as evidence in recent trials while the New York Times reports there were at least three-dozen similar cases in the past two years.

Famous examples of artists that wrote about committing violent crimes include Johnny Cash, who sang “I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die,” in his classic “Folsom Prison Blues” song. The Dixie Chicks sang about killing an abusive husband in “Goodbye Earl,” and, of course, who could forget Queen’s classic “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which includes the lyrics, “Mama, just killed a man…”