Today in a Manhattan courthouse, Judge Felicia A. Mennin sentenced Tekashi 6ix9ine, the Brooklyn rapper born Daniel Hernandez, to four years of probation (with credit for one year previously served) for charges stemming from his 2015 arrest for the use of a child in a sexual performance. He is not required to register as a sex offender. 6ix9ine is also required to complete 1,000 hours of community service and must refrain from gang affiliation and the posting or reposting online sexually explicit or violent images of women or children.
Following arguments from the prosecution and defense, 6ix9ine delivered a speech in the courtroom. He spoke about the acts of kindness he’s done in recent months, like providing meals to homeless people in Chicago and meeting with a young fan with cancer. “If I was such a bad person,” he told the court, “what in the world would a 6-year-old’s last wish be to see me?” He also said, “There’s people that deserve to be in jail, but Daniel Hernandez does not deserve that.”
Before delivering her sentence, Judge Mennin explained that, while 6ix9ine “technically” violated some terms of his plea agreement, she did not feel bound to the agreement because she did not draft it. (In 2018, Hon. Mennin replaced Judge Michael R. Sonberg, who oversaw 6ix9ine’s case from 2015 to 2017 before his retirement.) She also said 6ix9ine qualified as a “Youthful Offender” because of the “number of acts of unsolicited generosity” he performed, as well as her belief that he has shown “genuine remorse” for his crime and that he has acknowledged “what he did was very, very wrong.”
6ix9ine was first arrested back in March 2015 after video emerged of him engaging in sexual acts with a 13-year-old-girl. He pled guilty to the charge in October 2015, taking a plea agreement that required him to get his GED and stay out of trouble until his sentencing date, which was originally set for October 2017. The sentencing date continued to get pushed back, however, when 6ix9ine failed to obtain his GED. (It was postponed 19 times before today’s sentencing.)
While awaiting sentencing, 6ix9ine was charged with crimes on two separate occasions in May 2018. First, he was charged with misdemeanor assault in Texas for allegedly grabbing a teenager by the neck at a Houston mall. Then, he was arrested for driving with a suspended license in Brooklyn, and later charged with misdemeanor assault (among other crimes) for an incident involving an NYPD police officer. Prosecutors argued that those arrests violated 6ix9ine’s plea agreement. They also argued that the plea agreement was broken by 6ix9ine's alleged gang affiliations, alleged involvements in shootings at Barclays Center and Times Square last spring (related to beefs with Casanova and Chief Keef, respectively), and promotion of violence on social media.
Learn more about 6ix9ine’s legal situation in “Untangling Tekashi 6ix9ine’s Legal Cases.”
This article was originally published on Friday, October 26 at 4:19 p.m. Eastern. It was last updated on October 26 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern.
