Young Money Rapper Flow Sentenced to Life in Prison for Double Murder
New Orleans rapper Flow, an artist formerly on Lil Wayne’s Young Money record label, was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday (May 14) for the 2015 double murder of brothers Kendred and Kendrick Bishop.
According to NOLA.com, Flow, wearing an orange jumpsuit in court, listened as Criminal District Judge Tracey Flemings-Davillier sentenced him to life without the benefit of parole on each of the second-degree murder charges, and to 30 years in prison for conspiracy to commit murder. She also sentenced Flow, born Widner Degruy, to 40 years for obstruction of justice, and 30 years for conspiracy to obstruct justice.
Flow’s life sentences come after a jury came back with an 11-1 verdict to convict him of two counts of second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit second-degree murder on April 8.
As we previously reported, the bodies of Kendrick, 22, and Kendred Bishop, 18, were found in a car on May 25, 2015, in New Orleans’ East Side. The pair had been shot inside a black Kia vehicle.
Prosecutors say that Flow, 27, killed the brothers in retaliation because he thought they stole $8,000 and two guns from his girlfriend’s car a week earlier, according to NOLA.com.
Flow tried to blame the murders on accomplice Jonathan Evans and his now deceased cousin. But Evans agreed to work with law enforcement and testified against Flow, and was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his involvement in the shooting. In addition, investigators found Flow’s cell phone at the scene of the crime, which eventually led police to name the rapper as a suspect.
Weeks before his trial was to begin, Flow pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice in the case. He confessed to the jury that he lied to police when he didn’t tell them what he knew about the Bishop brothers’ murders.
During the hearing, Assistant District Attorney Irena Zajickova read a statement on behalf of the victims’ mother, Sherry Strauss, who said her children were her "everything."
In the statement, Strauss said she was glad Degruy left his phone at the scene and glad the jury saw through his lies. She also called him a “sloppy murderer,” and said she was glad her family received justice.
Flow signed to Young Money Entertainment in 2012, and made his first appearance on record with Lil Wayne on the song “Inkredible (Remix),” off the 2011 mixtape Sorry 4 the Wait.
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