x
Breaking News
More () »

Foolio hearing: Judge denied motion to disqualify Assistant State Attorney

In Jacksonville rapper Foolio's ongoing legal wrangling, Judge Mark Borello denied motion to disqualify Assistant State Attorney Leah Owens.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Circuit Judge Mark Borello denied a motion Wednesday made by the attorney for Jacksonville rapper Foolio to disqualify the Assistant State Attorney Leah Owens from working on the case.

Borello said he saw no law that required the court to grant the rapper's request to disqualify Owens. 

"The motion is directed at disqualifying a specific Assistant State Attorney," Judge Borello said to Foolio's attorney Lewis Fusco. "You obviously make some serious allegations in your motion. I'm not making any findings one way or another about those. I'm suggesting your remedy lies with the State Attorney, and maybe with the Florida Bar."

Foolio's lawyer Lewis Fusco previously argued that police-worn body cam footage showed Owens arriving on the scene of the traffic stop, improperly "searching" Foolio's car, and advising officers to make an arrest.  

RELATED: Body cam footage shows Assistant State Attorney 'searching' Jacksonville rapper Foolio's car, instructing officers in window tint traffic stop

The rapper was later taken in for questioning about a murder involving a close friend of his.

The body cam footage does show Owens on the scene of the traffic stop, "searching" Foolio's car, and advising officers to make the arrest. Owens previously defended being there.

"Like a homicide scene, every single homicide case I have, I was present at the scene," Owens said in a previous hearing. "I did not search anything. I did not put gloves on, did not touch any item in that vehicle. I just looked inside the vehicle," she said. 

Foolio, whose name  is Charles Jones II, was charged for third-degree felony of Fleeing or Attempting to Elude a Law Enforcement Officer on April 5 after a traffic stop for an alleged tint violation.

The next date for the case is August 8, for a hearing on the motion to suppress evidence in the case, which Fusco has argued should not be admissible because there was no probable cause for the 2 1/2-hour traffic stop. 

Foolio remains on house arrest following the traffic stop, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.

Fusco said the rapper didn't flee the traffic stop, but "He rolled to a 300-foot stop," he said during a previous hearing. The video does not make clear when the officer initiated the stop. It shows Foolio stopped 43 seconds after the video begins, emerging with hands out.                         

The footage shows a deputy grabbing Foolio by his hoodie and slamming his head against the side of a car, while yelling at him to stop resisting.

Before You Leave, Check This Out