Beyonce Music Theft Trial

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]And what is subject to as far as this part?

[00:00:06]Does everybody anticipate that the plea itself will be >> video and audio?

[00:00:13]>> Yes sir. Any objections?

[00:00:24]>> All right. And I do for our I think we may have done this on the record for WS there being no objections to the filming of the plea.

[00:00:37]Ma'am, I think you do. You have anything to say?

[00:00:44]Okay. All right, then. Let's go forward.

[00:02:35]Okay. All right. Again, we are uh in the proceeding of the state of Georgia versus Mr. Kelvin Evans. I don't think I need to to do this again, but this is case number 25 SC006417.

[00:02:50]The defendant is present in court with his counsel and uh Miss Anna Wright representing the state of Georgia, Mr. Marquis Jones. Uh the court is informed that there is a plea be taken and I will turn these proceedings over to Mr. Jones.

[00:03:08]>> Mr. Evans, please raise your right hand as best you can.

[00:03:12]Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you should give in this matter currently before the court shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

[00:03:20]>> Sir, sir, >> you may lower your hand. Please state your true, correct, and legal name.

[00:03:25]>> Kevin, >> and are you at this time taking under the in taking or under the influence of any alcohol, drugs, or medicine?

[00:03:33]>> No, sir.

[00:03:34]>> Is there a medication that you normally take that you've not been given today?

[00:03:37]>> No, sir. How old are you and how far have you gone in school?

[00:03:42]>> Went to like the um lamb grade.

[00:03:45]Really? I'm 39 but they got on 41. So I'm 39 in real.

[00:03:49]>> Okay.

[00:03:49]>> But I ain't under no influence.

[00:03:52]>> Okay.

[00:03:53]>> Do you have a GED?

[00:03:55]>> I'm in now. So I'm like probably like a month away from taking it. I'm in receiving.

[00:04:01]>> Okay.

[00:04:02]>> Are you able to read, write, and understand the English language?

[00:04:06]>> Yes, sir.

[00:04:11]Do you understand that you have been charged with count one entering automobile and count two criminal trespass?

[00:04:20]>> Yes, sir.

[00:04:20]>> Do you understand you have a right to either plead guilty or not guilty to these charges? If you were to plead not guilty, you have a right to a jury trial.

[00:04:28]>> Yes, sir.

[00:04:29]Have you had enough time to speak with your lawyer, Miss Wright, about all of the facts and circumstances known to you regarding the charges, including any potential defenses?

[00:04:37]>> Yes, sir.

[00:04:38]>> Do you need more time to discuss this case with your lawyer?

[00:04:40]>> No, sir.

[00:04:41]>> Are you satisfied with her services?

[00:04:43]>> Yes, sir.

[00:04:43]>> Miss Wright, do you wait for more reading of the indictment? And do you wave any and all defects in the indictment?

[00:04:49]>> I do.

[00:04:50]>> Mr. Evans, do you understand that you are pleading guilty to count one entering automobile? The minimum is one year. The maximum is five years. Count two, criminal trespass. The minimum is one one day. The maximum is 12 months.

[00:05:03]>> Yes, sir.

[00:05:05]>> And do you understand that if you are sentenced as a recidivist under 17-107B or C, you will serve the entire prison portion of that sentence imposed without the possibility of parole. And that is true regardless of any advice by anyone else or your attorney.

[00:05:26]>> Yes, sir. And do you understand that the state is not withdrawing the recidivist notice that we filed? Yes sir.

[00:05:31]>> Um do you understand that this is a joint recommendation from the state in the in the defense of uh count one entering automobile is five years to serve two and confinement balance probated count two criminal trespass is going is going to merge into the entering automobile. Do you understand that?

[00:05:52]>> Yes sir. Do you understand that the court does not have to accept that recommendation and the court can census you to the maximum on each charge and can run those sentences consecutive or one after the other?

[00:06:03]>> Yes, sir.

[00:06:07]>> And do you understand that this plea may be used to enhance sentencing on other convictions in this jurisdiction as well as in other jurisdictions including the federal court?

[00:06:18]>> Yes, sir.

[00:06:19]>> Are you currently on probation or parole?

[00:06:22]>> Yes, sir. serving the remain of my time parole now.

[00:06:24]>> All right. Um, do you understand that if you are currently on probation or parole, your probation of parole may be revoked based off of you're entering a guilty plea today?

[00:06:33]>> Yes, sir.

[00:06:34]>> And do you understand that if you are placed on probation of any kind, you cannot violate any criminal laws of any governmental unit um or special conditions of probation without being subject to the revocation for the balance of the sentence? Yes, sir. Do you understand that you are not allowed to uh possess or use a firearm while on probation?

[00:06:54]>> Yes, sir.

[00:06:56]>> Are you a United States citizen?

[00:06:58]>> Yes, sir.

[00:06:58]>> Do you understand that neither the court, your attorney, nor the district attorney's office has anything to do with parole, the department of corrections, the board of pardon and parole leaves, and no one can guarantee parole no matter what anyone has told you.

[00:07:13]>> Yes, sir. Do you understand that there may be other adverse or unfavorable consequences as a result of this guilty plea just as there will be from a conviction following a trial? For example, your guilty plea may affect the right to vote, the right to hold public office, the right to serve on a jury, the right to obtain a passport, the right to receive, possess, or transport a firearm, or the ability to obtain employment? Yes, sir. Do you understand that by pleading guilty to a felony, if you use, receive, possess, or transport a firearm or use a firearm in a crime in the future, you will be guilty of an additional felony which could car which could carry 1 to 15 years in prison?

[00:07:50]>> Yes, sir.

[00:07:51]>> Do you understand that you wave any and all defenses, including any mental health defenses, by entering a plea of guilty?

[00:07:58]>> Yes, sir.

[00:07:59]>> Do you understand that by pleading guilty, you're giving up the following rights? They're going to be about eight or nine of them. I'm going to read all of them. Then I'll come back to you and ask you if you understand you're giving up those rights. The right to a trial by jury. The right to remain silent and not incriminate yourself. The right to confront witnesses against you. The right to the assistance of counsel hired by you or to court appointed counsel if you cannot afford an attorney at a trial of your case. The right to the presumption of innocence. The right to testify on your own behalf and to present other evidence. The right to subpoena witnesses and compel the production of evidence. the right to have the charges um against you proved beyond a reasonable doubt and the right to appeal if convicted of these charges after a trial. Do you understand that by pleading guilty, you're giving up each and every one of those rights that I just mentioned?

[00:08:43]>> Yes, sir.

[00:08:44]>> Has anyone forced, threatened, or permished anything to get you to enter a guilty plea?

[00:08:49]>> Yes, sir.

[00:08:51]>> Is it your decision to wave these rights that we just talked about and enter guilty plea because you are in fact guilty?

[00:08:58]I say I'm in fact guilty, but doing it for the best of my knowledge.

[00:09:04]>> Well, I'm guilty.

[00:09:05]>> All right, so let's go back. Is it your decision to wave these rights that um that we just talked about and enter guilty plea because you are in fact guilty? Yes, sir.

[00:09:13]>> How do you plead to the charges uh um as to indictment number 25 SC006417?

[00:09:21]How do you plead the charge count one entering automobile and count two criminal trespass? Yes.

[00:09:27]>> Is this guilty ple free freely and voluntarily given with full knowledge of the charges against you?

[00:09:32]>> Freely.

[00:09:33]>> Do you understand that you may have only a limited right to appeal this guilty plea conviction?

[00:09:37]>> Yes, sir.

[00:09:38]>> And do you understand that you have 30 days from today to file a direct appeal?

[00:09:42]>> Yes, sir.

[00:09:43]>> And do you understand that you have from 30 days from today until the end of the term of court, whichever one is longer, to file a um motion seeking to withdraw your guilty plea?

[00:09:53]>> Yes, sir. And do you understand that you only have four years from today for a felony charge and 12 months today for a misdemeanor charge to file a habius corpus petition challenging the voluntariness/constitutionality of this guilty plea?

[00:10:07]If I can just have one. Yes.

[00:10:48]Hey, your honor. Um, I'm going to start with the defendants the factual basis for this particular plea. Um, talk while the video just Okay, sorry.

[00:11:38]So your honor, had this case gone to trial, the state would have expected the evidence would have shown on or about July 8th of 2025.

[00:11:47]It really starts on the seventh in which this defendant's sister rented a vehicle and she loaned it to her her daughter.

[00:11:55]And it was at that point that her daughter gets a phone call around 700 p.m. from the defendant, her uncle. And it's at that time that her uncle tells her, "Hey, my bike just went dead. I need you to come and pick me up." So what does she do? She goes and she goes and picks him up. While she goes and picks him up, um, he says, "Let me borrow the car. I need to go to my I'll be back in 5 minutes. It is at that particular point that she um loans this defendant the car and as you see this is the red Hyundai. Um and this is the car going inside of the parking garage at uh 44 Crag Street. Once the car enters the parking garage, the car will back into the parking spot um next to the 2024 Jeep Wagon Ear. That Jeep Wagon there is the car that's listed in the indictment.

[00:13:05]The individual exits the car wearing what we believe to be a gray or white baseball cap. He takes off the baseball cap. He goes to the back of the Jeep Wagon ear, looks inside, looks inside of the car at this particular time. Um, we believe this is when he notices the items in the trunk. Those items are black are black suitcases. You will notice that that was just a highlight of the white writing on the front of this particular person's shirt. That will come in handy. This is the person going to the passenger side shining lights to find more items in the particular vehicle. At some point, there's going to be a blue Tesla that will pull up. At that time, that person will um the person on the video will be seen hiding so that the blue Tesla cannot um see see him.

[00:13:57]the part where he's hiding again. Goes back to the back.

[00:14:31]and now reaches inside of the vehicle and pulls out the bags.

[00:14:42]He then goes to the driver's side of the car, gets in the car, and leaves. The important part of this is that As the defendant is going to be leaving, what you're about to see is the outside angle and you're going to see the defendant's hand. Um, which led us to believe that this was a black male.

[00:15:04]Also, from this particular image, officers were able to get the tag of the particular car, which is how they use license plate readers to um to track the car. Once they track the car, that's how they come in contact with the defendant's niece as she is arrested for driving the vehicle. Um, and that's when she she tells officers the statements about her uncle essentially asking her can he use the car for some minutes and that he was gone for these times. It is at that point that officers then go to 942 Hank Aaron which is where just a little bit faster.

[00:15:48]>> Which is where at sometime shortly you will see the defendant arriving who we we know now to be the defendant arriving on the bike wearing the same exact things. He now has a black book bag which is one of the items that were taken that was taken out of the the car. He goes up to apartment 13 of this particular address which is where his sister resides.

[00:16:12]Um just shortly just shortly you you would see that same individual come back downstairs. Um and this is when his niece tells us she's waiting for um he calls her because he's aggravated because his items are in the car. He goes up to that same red car that we just watched leave um the the parking garage. That is him grabbing one of the bags. That is his niece leaving leaving the car. It is at that particular point that you'll see him start to pull out the suitcases. The suitcases that Mr. Grant and Mr. Blue would have testified were their suitcases that were in the back of the truck. They take the suitcases upstairs and the suitcases were never seen again.

[00:16:59]The important part of how we know that those suitcases are those suitcases.

[00:17:03]What the defendant didn't know is that when he took the suitcases, Mr. Grant's MacBook Air and uh Pro were inside of the suitcase. Therefore, there was a live tracking of the of the the the items and the suitcase. So, the items are going to be tracked to a 370 North A um Hville, Georgia, which is where this particular defendant resides. Um, and then the the items are also tracked to 942 Hank Aaron Drive, which is also the address that we just watched on the video. Um, and then those items are those items are no longer tracked and that is the last place that we see them.

[00:17:50]As I mentioned, a day later, the defendant's niece is pulled over. It is at that time she gives those statements.

[00:17:56]officers um perform a search a search warrant on the on the premise.

[00:18:01]Unfortunately, they were unable to locate those particular items. The defendant does give a does give a statement to officers in which he refers to himself as the as the king thief of Atlanta and that he he says that um somebody came to him and told him what was in the suitcases. However, his niece also gives a statement in which she says, "I got an an iPhone and I got a lot of chargers from it." The victims would have testified that their iPhones were taken and their their multiple their multiple charges. Um, that's the basis for the entering auto and the criminal trespass. As it as it relates to the defendant's criminal history, the state did file a recetivist notice in this particular case.

[00:18:55]And the defendant's criminal history does an 03 SC 4357 for entering automobile death by taking death by receiving stolen property out of the cab from 20 from 2003. There's an O2 SC0328 entering automobile death theft by taking out of Fton September 16th from 2024. There's an SC 66990 entering automobile 1410 from 2009.

[00:19:24]There's a 09 CR41447 entering automobile out of the cab from 2010. There's a 14 SC128817 entering automobile out of Fton from 2015. There is a 14 SC128805 entering automobile out of Fton from 2016. There's a 14 SC125009 entering automobile um from 2017. 14 SC128763 entering automobile from 2017. 16 SC 1405 again entering automobile from 2017 and a 22CR0414 entering automobile out of foresight from 2023 which is what the defendant mentioned earlier that his probation his parole has previously been for vote on nothing further from the state your honor. Okay. And if I missed it, okay, I did not miss it. Um, can you give me the basis for the uh state's recommendation based on what you just read to me?

[00:20:37]>> Um, your honor, as as we all know that there's a sense of uncertainty as it relates to a jury trial. Um and whenever we can uh get some certainty while we believe that the the state had a very strong um a strong case there are some parts that are circumstantial in this particular case that a jury a reasonable jury may have found a defendant not guilty. Um so that's the that's the basis for the the plea recommendation.

[00:21:06]>> All right. Thank you.

[00:21:09]>> Yes. Um as the state indicated there were discrepancies in the evidence.

[00:21:16]which unless your I won't. Um, Mr. Evans is taking responsibility for his actions. He has already been revoked on his parole due to this case. Um, he's 39 years old. He does have a daughter. Um, she is three. Um and he is looking forward to putting um this relatively large part of his life behind him. Um and hoping for a future where he can um make money legitimately part of society just like the rest of us. Um and I think that this resolves um this resolves and gives each party the state and the what they both need to move on. We ask that you accept.

[00:22:08]>> All right. Thank you. Okay. Mr. Evans, I have some questions for you, sir. Did you understand the questions asked of you this morning by the attorney for the state of Georgia?

[00:22:19]>> Did you understand the questions asked of you by Mr. Jones? Oh, yes. The attorney for the state.

[00:22:24]>> Yes, ma'am.

[00:22:24]>> Okay. and and he asked you among other things about um about whether you understood and whether you appreciated that you were waving certain very important or giving up certain very important constitutional rights in order to enter this plea do you remember his asking those questions >> did you understand those questions >> and so the question to you is is that what you want to do you want to give up right right to trial by jury right to cross-examine witnesses all the other rights that uh belong to you right now.

[00:22:57]Do you want to give those up in order to enter this plea?

[00:23:00]>> Amen.

[00:23:02]>> Did say it one more time for me.

[00:23:03]>> Yes, ma'am.

[00:23:04]>> Okay. All right. And um and let me just let me just ensure that you you understand what we're doing. When this uh when we are finished with this proceeding, this matter will be over. Do you understand that, sir?

[00:23:17]>> Yes, ma'am.

[00:23:17]>> Except pursuant except for your appeal rights what the state has read to you.

[00:23:23]Okay. Is there anything further before um I announce the sentence?

[00:23:28]>> Not from the defense.

[00:23:30]>> Okay. State.

[00:23:32]>> Okay. Um first of all, I do find that Mr. Evans is entering his plea willingly, freely, knowingly, and voluntarily. I do believe that there are facts giving rises giving rise to the charges uh in this case. I do find that um the uh both the state and the defense have referenced the fact that there is enough doubt or to use their word uncertainty or discrepancies in the evidence uh to recommend to the court uh the sentence being recommended. So I want to note that. I want to also note that the um recidivism notice is not being withdrawn by the state. So that remains in place.

[00:24:20]Therefore, I do accept the joint recommendation in both the state and the defense and sentence as follows.

[00:24:27]On count one, the court hereby sentences Mr. Evans five years to serve two years with the balance probated and on count and count two would then merge into count one. So this uh is under 17-10-7 uh sub uh per B and C um and the in so far as the probation is concerned are there any conditions other than stay away from the um I would I would say stay away from the location and uh stay away from the victim's name >> and we would ask for It's unexplicitly say no further violations of of the law.

[00:25:14]>> Okay. And subject definitely to no further violations of the law. Okay. Is there I do think we need to get him signed up with probation?

[00:25:25]>> Oh, okay. Anything uh that we can do in so far as probation is concerned?

[00:25:42]And is there anything we need to say about um he gets by law credit for time served? Correct.

[00:25:48]>> Um he does and that's the court doesn't have to say it's >> all right.

[00:25:57]>> Hey, is our probation lady on?

[00:26:01]>> I'm sorry. I'm here. Can the court hear me?

[00:26:04]>> Yes, I can. Thank you.

[00:26:05]>> Oh, I'm I'm sorry. My computer is going um in and out. He has 48 hours to report upon um his release. Uh is there uh information or contact person that I could uh call just to make sure he has the our reporting instructions because it is on Zoom.

[00:26:23]>> Um I will email that to you.

[00:26:31]>> Okay. Do you have my email or I can say it on record? I don't mind.

[00:26:35]>> Would you please send me your email?

[00:26:37]>> Yes. Janice J A N I C E. Davis D- A B I S DCS.

[00:26:45]Ga.gov.

[00:26:49]And again, that's 48 hours upon his release from custody to report to the Atlanta Probation Office.

[00:26:58]>> Okay. Thank you.

[00:27:00]>> All right. Is there anything else?

[00:27:07]>> Yes.

[00:27:37]Yeah. August 26 until every day that he did in anywhere in the state of Georgia.

[00:28:07]>> The court's understanding is that these dates will come from that day, >> right?

[00:28:25]It doesn't matter for the Stay away from location.

[00:28:50]>> The incident location is y'all have the street address of the car.

[00:28:55]>> Okay. Stay away from the incident location.

[00:28:59]>> No further violations.

[00:29:26]Yeah.

[00:29:26]>> Are we good? Are we good? Ross, are we good?

[00:29:30]>> Yes.

[00:29:30]>> The defendant may be taken from the court.

[00:29:36]>> But and I need everybody to stay in place.

[00:29:59]Oh, of course.

[00:30:17]All right. If I can get everyone to remain in place.

[00:30:28]>> Oh, yeah.

[00:30:52]Mr. Jones, don't go too far.

[00:31:05]I haven't seen you in so long.

[00:31:19]>> Well, this is a new one. We've got a jeweler who is still uh has informed us not here but coming but entering the building. So the question then becomes let's give it a minute if you don't mind and I don't think it's legally necessary but I think it's probably You want me to go?

[00:32:09]>> You need me to get off?

[00:32:12]>> We're waiting on