MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Justin Johnson, who is accused of killing Young Dolph, was denied the reinstatement of phone and visitation privileges in court Friday.
Justin Johnson’s privileges were revoked after he released a song on YouTube back in November, which is a decision jail officials call a safety risk.
Johnson is represented by Luke Evans who argued that his client has been deprived of his basic rights since a court order was issued.
“This creates an appearance of impartiality,” Evans said. “He hasn’t had the ability to correspond with anyone, in his own right, he has not had the ability to have his phone privileges re-enacted, so he can correspond with people by phone.”
The order was put in place by Judge Lee Coffee after Johnson released a song from jail called no statements, which he addresses the death of rapper Young Dolph, saying “Say I’m a rapper, the state says that I’m a paid killer.”
The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office conducted an internal investigation, determining Johnson made the recording and restricted his visitation.
“I can’t say it violates a policy, but it violates the potential safety of Mr. Johnson based on the allegations that he’s in jail for,” Kirk Fields, Shelby County Chief Jailer said.
Not only were Johnson’s phone privileges and visitation rights discussed, but also a motion filed by his attorney to have Judge Coffee recuse himself from the case.
“It can’t get more personal directed at the defendant say I’m going to isolate you from the outside world except for your lawyer, indefinitely,” Evans said.
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Ultimately, Judge Coffee denied the motion and decided to keep Johnson’s current restrictions in place.
“This court has a responsibility to make sure Mr. Johnson is safe, to make sure the public is safe, and to make sure he gets a fair trial,” Judge Coffee said.
Johnson is set to appear in court again on June 9, where another hearing involving his jail privileges could take place.