What led to rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine’s return to jail? Court turns down his plea for house arrest

Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine has been ordered to serve an additional three months in prison after a federal judge ruled Friday that he violated conditions of his supervised release in a New York gang-related case by assaulting someone and using drugs. The court turned down 6ix9ine’s bid for home confinement, with the judge highlighting the need for him to be held accountable.

Daniel Hernandez, the 29-year-old Brooklyn native, acknowledged the violations during a Manhattan federal court hearing, where Judge Paul Engelmayer voiced his frustration that the rapper continues to run into legal trouble. Hernandez had previously received a 45-day sentence late last year for breaching the “supervised release” rules.

“From time to time your actions suggest that you believe that ordinary rules don’t apply to you," said the judge, who said another prison sentence was needed to send a message to Hernandez.

Hernandez, who shot to fame with the 2017 release of his song “Gummo,” gave a lengthy speech in court, describing several episodes where he and his relatives were harassed and threatened because of his cooperation with authorities in the gang case.

“Unknown individuals left a coffin in front of my house with an animal in it to send me a message,” he said. “Three masked gunmen held my mom at gunpoint.”

Hernandez admitted in 2018 that he had been involved with the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods, a violent New York gang. Because he helped prosecutors in their racketeering case against other members, he received a reduced sentence in 2019: two years in prison and five years of supervised release.

He was also let out of federal custody several months early in 2020 at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The latest sentencing stems from a police search of his home in Miami in March, when officers found small quantities of cocaine and ecstasy, and from an August incident in which he punched a man who mocked him at a shopping centre in Florida over his cooperation with authorities. His lawyer had argued that six months of home detention would have been a suitable penalty for the breaches.

(With inputs from news agency AP)