This post was originally published on this site.
Sky Balla could be walking free from his Las Vegas sexual assault case if a judge decides to toss out the indictment against him next month.
The Bay Area rapper’s defense team filed a motion claiming prosecutors hid evidence that would’ve changed everything about how the grand jury saw the case, and now the whole thing’s hanging in the balance.
Judge Bita Yeager’s got a hearing scheduled for July 23 to decide whether the charges stick or if Sky Balla gets another shot at trial, and the stakes couldn’t be higher.
Here’s what he’s facing: two counts of sexual assault resulting in substantial bodily harm, three counts of sexual assault, and one count of battery by strangulation.
Back in 2021, a woman said she met him at the Aria Resort & Casino’s High Limit Lounge, he ordered shots of tequila, and the next thing she remembers is waking up in a hotel room getting assaulted.
She told police he punched her in the face multiple times, knocked her unconscious, and when she came to, there was vomit in her hair and blood all over the place.
The injuries were so severe that she needed surgery. According to 8 News Now, housekeeping staff found so much blood the next day that they flagged it as a biohazard concern.
But here’s where it gets interesting.
Defense attorney Robert Draskovich says the prosecution withheld evidence showing the woman’s story changed in major ways before she testified to the grand jury.
He’s alleging she committed perjury, lied about her communications with Sky Balla, had a second phone she didn’t mention, and kept shifting her account of what happened.
The defense argues prosecutors buried exculpatory evidence that would’ve explained away the crimes he’s accused of.
Sky Balla posted $1 million bail in July 2021 and was placed on electronic monitoring, which he’s now asking to be released from so he can return to California and run his businesses.
The woman filed a civil lawsuit and won a default judgment against him for nearly $762,000 in medical damages and pain and suffering.
