Suspect in killing of rapper PnB Rock is extradited to L.A. to face murder charge
By Tom Gerken 4 October 2016
The suspect in the killing of rapper PnB Rock has been extradited to L.A. to face a murder charge.
A Los Angeles County district attorney said that William T. Hooten, 35, has been extradited to Los Angeles, where he faces a murder charge in PnB’s death. PnB’s body was found at Hooten’s mother’s home in the South Bay on July 5. Hooten, who once ran a strip club in Compton, had been living at the house for a week under a false name after fleeing a traffic stop outside Compton that night.
Hooten, the father of two young children, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole after 24 years, if convicted of first-degree murder. He has been held on a $1 million bail.
The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, which handled PnB’s murder case, stated that Hooten would be transferred to California to face the murder charge.
“Today’s extraditions represent significant and unprecedented efforts to bring justice to the killing of PnB Rock,” said Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey in a statement. “The district attorney’s office worked closely with law enforcement, prosecutors and experts to identify and prove Hooten’s guilt. The evidence presented by the prosecution proved beyond a reasonable doubt that William T. Hooten, 35, committed the very same murder that took another man’s life three days later—that of PnB Rock—as a result of a conspiracy,” Lacey said. “This week, we are making sure that one of our own takes a bullet for our city.”
Earlier in the day, the state of California released the transcript of a 911 call Hooten made in the days after the killing. In the call, Hooten confessed to killing PnB Rock and is heard to say that he got involved in the murder because he feared for his life.
In the call, Hooten is heard saying, “I mean, I am just so scared for my life. I didn