Jimmy Henchman Is Granted New Murder-for-Hire Trial

Update (Nov. 2, 11:00 a.m.):

50 Cent has responded to Rosemond getting a new trial:

Original Story:

Last year, Jimmy "Henchman" Rosemond was given a life sentence plus 20 years for a 2009 murder-for-hire plot that resulted in the death of G-Unit associate Lowell “Lodi Mack” Fletcher. Today (Nov. 1), the New York Post reports that the former hip-hop executive's conviction has been overturned.

A Second Circuit Appeals Court judge granted Rosemond a new trial due to the actions of a Manhattan federal court judge at the defendant's 2014 trial. The federal court judge was deemed to be at fault for limiting the defense’s line of questioning of a witness named Brian McCleod.

“Because the district courtʹs interpretation of the scope of the waiver provision was unduly narrow, its restrictions on Rosemondʹs ability to cross‐examine his witnesses and mount an effective defense violated the Sixth Amendment,” appeals judge Denny Chin wrote in his ruling.

Rosemond's next trial will be the third proceeding regarding his role in the murder-for-plot case. The original trial, which took place in 2014, resulted in a hung jury. A jury would find Rosmeond guilty of the charges later that year.

"Today truth has come to defend me in my fight for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," Rosemond told AllHipHop. "Truth has knocked out falsehood. My God is truth. I want to thank my attorneys Jonathan Edelstein, Michael Rayfield and Bruce Maffeo for being soldiers of the inevitable."

Rosemond's attorneys believe their client's overturned conviction could help the former executive's other life sentence - for his alleged role in leading a $10 million-a-year cocaine operation - be dismissed. Many of the witnesses in Rosemond's murder-for-hire trial provided the same testimony in the drug trafficking case.

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