Rapper ChaiBenjii4 appears poised to beat his Oakland murder case

OAKLAND He was only arrested six months ago but now the local rapper known as ChaiBenjii appears poised to largely beat the accusations against him in his murder development court records show ChaiBenjii whose real name is Michai Adams pleaded no contest to a single gun charge As part of a plea agreement prosecutors are expected to dismiss murder and assault charges against Adams at his sentencing hearing on Jan Adams was charged with murdering -year-old Lamar Payne in a wild chaotic shootout involving multiple gunman including one bystander who heard the shots and merely brandished his gun Prosecutors alleged that Adams was one of the involved parties and that Payne was killed during an exchange of gunfire between three people Adams remains at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin for now He is expected to formally be sentenced to credit for time served and published in January records show Payne was killed Sept outside a liquor store near E Street and th Avenue administration mentioned The other man charged with murder Keyante Reed also appeared poised to beat the charges But there was a bit of a hiccup he was distributed by a judge after arguing self-defense only to catch another murder charge in Lathrop Now Reed is a fugitive with a pending murder occurrence in San Joaquin County and an arrest warrant for missing his court date in Oakland records show Reed s lawyer argued that Payne who was intoxicated pulled a gun and attempted to rob Reed s friend then ended up in a shootout involving Reed Payne and Adams Another man -year-old Tamarkus Killensworth was later arrested for allegedly pulling a gun during the matter but didn t fire according to police As a rapper Adams has a small but accomplished song catalog His musical YouTube channel has garnered more than million views despite Adams only putting out five songs on it all circulated in Functionaries mentioned that Adams and Killensworth are part of the Baby Benji Gang and that Killensworth was investigated for a string of robberies with another gang member last year Identifying Killensworth from surveillance footage of the shootout was easier because he has a distinct feature a right hand that is missing fingers according to police Before he allegedly shot and killed a man in Lathrop Reed was involved in another shootout at the same liquor store where Payne was killed almost a year to the day after the homicide In that happening he was arrested for allegedly possessing a gun but not charged court records show Ten days after that administration claim that Reed killed Markesse Owens in Lathrop