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Deandre Marquis Rogers, 25, was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison Friday for a third-strike felony stemming from a rap music video posted in December 2016.<\/p>\n
A Meadowview native who went by the name “Lizk” (pronounced “licks”), Rogers was convicted by a Sacramento Superior Court jury of being a felon in possession of a firearm, with gang and personal arming enhancements, on March 2.<\/p>\n
In a video for his song “No Air” posted Dec. 14, 2016, Rogers is seen waving a handgun as he raps about gun violence, his previous time in prison and a beef with Oak Park Bloods rapper Mozzy that was previously mentioned in a November video. “No Air” also includes a clip of a police officer describing the ongoing search of a paroled gang member’s car.<\/p>\n
The next day, deputies with the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department gang unit watched Rogers as he ate dinner at a Howe Avenue sushi restaurant and climbed into the back of a Mercedes outside. When they pulled the car over, they found a Glock 21 with an extended magazine filled with 17 rounds.<\/p>\n
Another vehicle Rogers was previously seen accessing had a Glock 27 with 12 loaded rounds, according to a Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office press release. But he was acquitted of a second felony by a Sacramento Superior Court jury.<\/p>\n
Rogers has previously admitted an affiliation to G Mobb\/Starz, a gang birthed from Franklin Villa housing complex in south Sacramento. He pleaded no contest to felonies of assault with a firearm and carrying an unregistered concealed weapon in a vehicle in 2014, and he has two misdemeanor resisting arrest convictions on his rap sheet as well.<\/p>\n
Sacramento gang tensions run high every Dec. 15 on “YEET Day,” the anniversary of a deadly Stockton Boulevard barbershop shooting. Sheriff’s deputies testified that they believed Rogers’ release of “No Air” the previous day was meant to fan the flames of conflict, the Sacramento News & Review reported.<\/p>\n
The Sheriff’s Department gang unit had already been planning to contact Rogers when the video was released, Detective Kenny Shelton said, but expedited their mission after watching it.<\/p>\n
During the trial, SN&R reported, defense attorneys argued Rogers’ lyrics and videos put forth an unsubstantiated persona of a killer \u2014 same as Al Pacino in “Scarface” or even Mozzy, whose star has risen precipitously despite interviews where he describes shooting people. Rogers maintained that the guns didn’t belong to him, though prosecutor Kristen Andersen said the Glock 21 and its extended magazine were clearly identifiable in the “No Air” video.<\/p>\n
Recent south Sacramento gang activity crested in 2016, when at least five people were killed and 12 injured in drive-by shootings throughout the year<\/p>\n