Dancehall artiste Squash’s legal issues in the United States have deepened further after federal prosecutors took over his case and slapped him with new charges on Wednesday.
Squash, born Andrae Maurice Whittaker, was arrested in Florida in February. The deejay subsequently pleaded not guilty in March to possession of a modified firearm and carrying a concealed weapon without a permit in Miami-Dade County.
According to reports, Squash, who had requested a jury trial, was in the middle of his arraignment hearing on Wednesday when federal prosecutors stepped in and announced they intended to take charge of the case. The arraignment hearing was the first step in determining if his felony charges would head to trial in the local courts.
However, Ariel Rodriquez, the presiding judge in Squash’s case, agreed with the prosecution’s request to close the case. As such, the previously mentioned charges against Squash were dropped and replaced.
Federal prosecutors later charged the Big Breeze deejay with one count of being an alien in possession of a firearm or ammunition and one count of unlawful possession of a machine gun. Squash’s trial will now seemingly take place at the federal level, with those charges carrying stiffer penalties than they would have at the local level.
Each of the charges against the artiste carries a maximum of ten years, and a minimum of 15 years if the accused has previous convictions. Squash’s next court date has not yet been shared.
