Florida rapper Real Boston Richey, born Jalen Taheen Foster, has had a mixed verdict in a federal gun and drugs case he’s been fighting since an indictment against him was unsealed in 2023: the rapper was found not guilty on two of the three counts against him, but the jury could not decide on the final one, so he will be retried on it next month.
As court documents reviewed by Complex show, on Thursday (August 21), a jury in a Tallahassee, Florida courtroom found Richey not guilty of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking offense. His co-defendant, Rayshun Foster, better known as Real Boston Glizzy, was also found not guilty of the same two charges.
Both men faced an additional charge that the jury could not decide on: conspiracy to distribute marijuana. They will be retried on that charge, with the trial scheduled to begin on September 29. The other two defendants in the case, De’Anthony Swatzie and Jerdy Miller, Jr., will also be part of the retrial.
Richey was initially set to be released until his new trial, but that decision was reversed after it came to light that the rapper has a warrant from Texas — presumably over charges stemming from allegedly choking his then-girlfriend outside a Houston nightclub earlier this year, though that could not be immediately confirmed — that would require he be extradited there if he was let out of custody. As a result, he will remain in jail until the retrial.
Richey, Foster, and two other co-defendants were accused of “knowingly and willfully” conspiring together to “distribute and possess with intent [to] distribute a controlled substance.” The indictment also accused Richey of possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. It alleged that he possessed multiple firearms, including several Glock pistols, a revolver, a rifle, and a 12-gauge shotgun.
The rapper was previously convicted in 2014 of attempted robbery, grand theft of a motor vehicle, and gun charges, as well as a burglary charge in 2017.
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