Freddie Lee Trone, 42, was convicted of felony murder for his role in the 2022 killing of rapper PnB Rock at a Los Angeles eatery. The Los Angeles County jury reached its decision after four hours of deliberation, finding Trone guilty on multiple charges, including one count of felony murder, two counts of robbery, and one count of conspiracy to commit robbery. Prosecutors revealed that Trone directed his 17-year-old son to carry out the fatal shooting, as detailed in a statement from the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office.
During the trial, both sides acknowledged that Trone’s son was the one who entered Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles in South Los Angeles, where he shot and robbed PnB Rock while the rapper was dining with his child’s mother. The prosecution maintained that the teenager acted under his father’s orders, while the defense contended that Trone’s involvement occurred only after the crime.
Currently 19 years old, Freddie Lee Trone’s son faces murder charges but remains in juvenile custody, having been deemed not competent to stand trial. Trone’s attorney, Winston McKesson, argued that the evidence presented was insufficient to prove Trone’s direct involvement in the shooting. “There was no evidence produced that he conspired to commit murder. There’s no evidence there was a conversation about murder, no evidence there was a conversation about a gun,” McKesson told The Associated Press. “The only evidence the jury found is that he dropped him off and picked him up.”
Reacting to the verdict, PnB Rock’s mother, Deannea Allen, told The New York Times she felt a mix of relief and gratitude, saying, “I just said, ‘Hallelujah, thank God.’” She described feeling “shaking” and “elated,” believing that “justice has been served.”
Another defendant, Tremont Jones, was convicted on two counts of second-degree robbery and one count of conspiracy to commit robbery. Both Jones and Trone are set for sentencing on August 27th. PnB Rock, whose birth name was Rakim Hasheem Allen, was fatally shot on September 12, 2022, during the robbery at Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles. Shortly after his death, Philadelphia’s city council passed a resolution to honor the late artist.