NEW YORK, NY – Taxstone murder trial has finally begun in New York after multiple delays, and Troy Ave is expected to testify.
The trial will center around the bitter feud between Taxstone (real name Daryl Campbell) and Troy Ave that came to a head at a T.I. concert in New York City’s Irving Plaza in 2016.
Taxstone and the Brooklyn rapper exchanged gunfire inside the venue, which led to Troy Ave’s bodyguard Ronald “Banga” McPhatter getting killed. Taxstone’s DNA was found on a semiautomatic handgun used in the shooting and he was arrested in January 2017.
The trial has been delayed multiple times, but it finally got underway on Wednesday (February 15), according to Vlad TV. If convicted, the former podcast host faces life in prison.
Taxstone has already pleaded guilty to a federal gun case, but the sentencing for that case will happen after the murder trial wraps. It was announced that the state would have two cooperating witnesses, one of which is Troy Ave (real name Roland Collins).
While Troy was originally charged in connection with the murder, he signed a cooperation agreement in 2017 with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Taxstone was indicted shortly after Troy Ave cooperated.
The other witness cooperating with authorities is a convicted Poughkeepsie drug dealer named Malcolm Kinyon. While he was not a direct witness to the shooting, he reportedly informed the D.A. that Taxstone spoke to him about the murder after it took place.
Kinyon himself is facing 42 years in prison after he allegedly used his Outta They League record label as a front to distribute multiple kilograms of cocaine. He was also charged with smuggling firearms into New York City and selling them to his signees.
Troy Ave spoke about the case in a recent interview with Math Hoffa on his My Expert Opinion podcast, and said while CCTV footage shows him firing a gun, he did so in self-defense.
“I mean you see a lot of n-ggas running, ducking for cover, and you know n-ggas that’s supposed to be standing around n-ggas they folded, I stood tall,” he said. “It’s like you come in here you bought to do work, and before you walk in the door there’s a hater there blocking your way, and the hater killed your friend and tried to kill you, and everything is self-defense.”
He continued: “I’m not going out like that. Like I told y’all, I’m with everything, n-gga. I’m not running…bullets in me. I’m gonna take the gun, I’m gonna beat you n-gga and I’m gonna blow at you, but what the media shows is me shooting. I never denied that’s me. What I’m saying is I took that gun from a hater; I ain’t bring no guns in the club. That’s a fact.”
Elsewhere, he said: “I really picked up my man body, n-gga. Like, I picked him up. All these n-ggas that was there…Maino was there, any n-gga there, they didn’t help me pick up Banga’s body, they walked past.”
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