JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The video attached to this story shows Whitaker's brief court appearance on April 18.
Leroy Whitaker, a Jacksonville rapper known as ATK Scotty, in jail for the murder of 23-year-old Charles McCormick in January 2020, is facing new charges.
Whitaker is being tried for McCormick's murder along with Hakeem Robinson, also a rapper, who is known as Ksoo. McCormick was also known as 'Lil Buck.' Both Whitaker and Robinson are known gang members, and McCormick was associated with a rival gang.
Court records show that Whitaker was accused of bringing in or receiving a firearm or deadly weapon into the Duval County Jail on Tuesda.
He will be arraigned on this new charge on May 5. Reports detailing how this charge came about have not been released yet.
Whitaker, as well as Robinson and his brother, Abdul Robinson Jr., will be tried in August, four years after the crime. Whitaker's attorney told a judge during a pre-trial hearing Thursday that she is "full speed ahead" to go to trial.
The Robinson brothers' father, Abdul Robinson Sr., was accused of being an accessory to McCormick's murder. He is set to testify against his sons in exchange for a lesser sentence. Another accused accomplice, Dominique Barner -- known also as 'Butta' -- is also testifying in exchange for a lesser sentence.
Both witnesses pleaded the fifth to several questions they were asked during their depositions. Defense attorneys for the co-defendants asked that Judge Tatiana Salvador compel them to answer these questions.
Whitaker, as well as both Robinson brothers, appeared in court Thursday to hear the result of this request. Salvador said she does not intend to grant the request and will not force them to answer the questions.
Whitaker's new charges were not mentioned during this hearing.
The questions Abdul Robinson Sr. would not answer (without context of the larger interview):
- 1. How did you beat the 3 murder raps? How did you get the charges dropped?
- 2. How many other homicides have you been involved in that you have not been arrested for and charged with?
- 3. Have you ever paid anybody to go commit a homicide and kill somebody?
- 4. Did you have something to do with Angelica London’s murder?
- 5. Do you have any direct involvement in requesting or asking them or soliciting them to do a crime for you?
The questions Barner would not answer (without context of the larger interview) are below:
- 1. At any other time, have you tried to get money to do a killing?
- 2. You said you had never shot anyone before July 10, 2019-that was a lie, correct?
- 3. You’ve never shot anyone prior to this date?
- 4. How many times have you burglarized a house that you don’t remember?
- 5. Prior to November 2017, did you commit other robberies?
- 6. Were you involved in other violent crimes?
- 7. How often would you go freestyling looking for people on this hit list to kill?
- 8. When you go into houses, you bring a weapon with you. Fair to say?
- 9. Did you ever think, hey, even though I ended up talking to police and making incriminating statement, I can ask my lawyer to file a motion to suppress? Did you know that?
- 10. Have you ever looked on CORE previously to find someone’s address? Have you used CORE to look up somebody’s address with the plan to go kill them?
- 11. How many other times in your career have you orchestrated assassinations of people?