HOUSTON — Houston rapper Trae Tha Truth appeared in court Friday morning in connection with assault charges involving another rapper Z-Ro stemming from an incident in August.
Trae Tha Truth, whose real name is Frazier O. Thompson, was charged with assault on Dec. 27 and is out on bond.
The prosecutor spoke to reporters following the hearing. Nathan Beedle, Misdemeanor Trial Bureau Chief with the Harris County District Attorney's Office said they are still in the evidence-gathering phase of the investigation.
Beedle said the charge carries a sentence of up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine if convicted.
Thompson's attorney spoke to reporters following his hearing.
“Now everyone knows Trae because he has been a very pivotal part of our community, he has been supporting so many causes here, and we have to respect and appreciate that, and we are grateful for what he has done,” his attorney said. “But despite that, we don’t expect him to get any sort of special treatment here at the courthouse, we expect him to be treated like anyone else, and he will be treated fair.”
Thompson did not give a statement after the hearing.
According to court documents, on Aug. 27 at 11 p.m., a police officer working an extra job saw Z-Ro, whose real name is Joseph McVey, involved in a fight with a group of men outside of the Kim Son restaurant on Jefferson Street near St. Emanuel Street in east downtown Houston.
Investigators contacted McVey on Sept. 3 to follow up on his case. Detectives said they found a video that had been posted the day before by TMZ on YouTube that showed the alleged assault. The video showed McVey being hit and kicked while he was on the ground, covering his face to protect himself.
Police said they identified a man wearing an orange shirt in the video as Thompson. The video showed him on top of McVey, punching him in the head while others were also hitting him.
Police said the video also shows two other men who they have identified as assaulting McVey. One of them could be seen reaching down and picking up a piece of jewelry that had slipped off McVey’s wrist as he was being assaulted.
On Sept. 20, McVey provided a statement to police about the video and the theft of his jewelry, court documents state. McVey told police he arrived at the restaurant just after 10 p.m. and went to meet with an artist on his label.
McVey told police he had later walked out of the restaurant and saw the group of men and noticed Thompson. McVey said he began taking photos with fans and then he was approached by Thompson, who asked him when he was done taking photos to meet with him.
McVey told police he later went to meet with Thompson who was standing next to a van outside the parking lot. He then said he was sucker punched by Thompson.
According to court documents, that's when the others joined in, and McVey was thrown to the ground. He said while he was on the ground, the jewelry fell off and was taken by one of the men. He added that his sunglasses, watch and the bracelet was taken.
McVey said he eventually got up and that's when he saw uniformed police separate the group from him, court documents state. McVey added that he suffered an eye injury when Thompson punched him.
McVey told police he has known Thompson since 1996 and was able to identify him as his alleged attacker.
Thompson is expected to appear back in court in March