A Tennessee man accused of helping two hired killers after they gunned down rapper Young Dolph inside a Memphis bakery has dodged prison time.
Jermarcus Johnson, 27, will instead serve six years in a diversion program, which includes job training, drug testing and 20 hours of community service for each year of his probationary period.
If Johnson successfully completes the program, his record will be expunged.
Jermarcus Johnson, left, speaks with Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Lee Coffee as he pleads guilty to charges in the killing of rapper Young Dolph on Friday, June 9, 2023, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Adrian Sainz)
Johnson pleaded guilty in June 2023 to three counts of serving as an accessory after the shooting as part of a plea deal, which also saw him testify against his half-brother, Justin Johnson. The latter was sentenced to life in prison after he was convicted in September of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and being a felon in possession of a gun.
Young Dolph, whose real name was Adolph Thornton Jr., was fatally shot in November 2021 at a bakery near the house where he grew up. The 36-year-old rapper was handing out Thanksgiving turkeys to families before he visited the cookie shop where he was killed.
A second suspect, Cornelius Smith Jr., has also been charged with first-degree murder. He testified at Justin Johnson’s trial, confessing on the witness stand that they unleashed a hail of bullets on Dolph.
Smith told the court that rapper Yo Gotti’s brother, Anthony “Big Jook” Mims, had put out a $100,000 hit on Dolph, in addition to bounties on all the artists at the rapper’s record label, Paper Route Empire.
The hit stemmed from the fact that Yo Gotti wanted Young Dolph for his own label, Cocaine Muzik Group — now known as Collective Music Group — but Dolph turned them down and wrote a diss track instead.
In the aftermath of the shooting, police said Johnson helped his half-brother and Smith while they worked to avoid law enforcement. In speaking with reporters after the sentencing on Friday, prosecutor Paul Hagerman emphasized that Johnson had no role in killing the beloved rapper.
“He was used by his brother,” Hagerman said. “He is not a criminal.”