A state appellate court has reversed the conviction of Travon Rashad Venable Sr., previously convicted of being the getaway driver in a 2014 drive-by shooting, reported the Orange County Register. The prosecution built a case against Venable by using a rap music video that featured him. 

The trial judge should not have allowed prosecutors to enter potentially racially biased evidence in the form of lyrics from a rap song, because such evidence is a form of creative expression, ruled the court. 

The ruling reflects a new addition to California’s Evidence Code that aims to eliminate racial bias. The Decriminalizing Artistic Expression Act was signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2022. It did not exist at the time of Venable’s trial. 

“There’s no question the trial judge’s admission of the rap evidence in this case did not comply with the new requirements for admission of creative expression,” wrote Justice Marsha Slough. “There’s also substantial concern that admitting the evidence may have had the precise effects the Legislature sought to avoid.” 

Venable’s conviction was the first overturned by the new law, according to the Register.