Hakeem Robinson, a 26-year-old male rapper from Jacksonville, Florida, known as Ksoo, was sentenced to life in prison for the 2020 murder of 23-year-old Charles “Lil Buck” McCormick Jr. This concluded a high-profile trial that drew national attention due to its connections to the city's rap and gang communities.
The fatal shooting occurred on January 15, 2020, in a Jacksonville shopping plaza. Prosecutors argued that Robinson, along with his cousin Leroy Whitaker Jr.
and an accomplice, Dominique 'Butta' Barner, stalked McCormick before Robinson shot him in broad daylight. The motive, according to the state, was retaliation for a 'diss' track McCormick had created about Willie Addison, Robinson's stepbrother who was killed in a 2019 drive-by shooting. The date of McCormick's murder was the first anniversary of Addison's death.
The investigation utilized surveillance and dashcam footage of the shooting, as well as social media posts in which Robinson allegedly bragged about the killing. A key and dramatic element of the trial was the testimony of Robinson's own father, Abdul Robinson Sr., who identified his son as the shooter in the video footage. This testimony was a difficult decision for the elder Robinson, who was also implicated in helping the suspects escape. Another crucial witness for the prosecution was Dominique Barner, who admitted to driving the getaway car and testified that Robinson was the triggerman. Barner had accepted a plea deal for his testimony.
The defense attorneys for Hakeem Robinson argued that he was not the man in the video, pointing to discrepancies in the physical descriptions provided by witnesses compared to Robinson's actual height and build. They contended that witnesses described the shooter as being significantly shorter than Robinson, who stands well over six feet tall. His sister also testified that the person in the video was not her brother. Despite these arguments, the jury found Robinson guilty of first-degree murder after deliberating for three and a half hours.
Following the guilty verdict, Hakeem Robinson was sentenced to a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole. His cousin and co-defendant, Leroy Whitaker Jr., was also found guilty of first-degree murder and burglary and received a life sentence. Hakeem Robinson still faces a separate murder trial for the 2019 shooting death of 16-year-old Adrian “Lil Bibby” Gainer Jr.
