Exactly one year after Memphis rapper Young Dolph was fatally shot in his hometown, the man responsible for arranging his murder is standing before a jury and judge.
On Thursday, 43-year-old Hernandez Govan, the third man charged in the murder, made an appearance at a courthouse in Memphis just a week after he was arrested and indicted on charges of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. He pleaded guilty to the charges, according to the Associated Press.
Born Adolph Thornton Jr., Young Dolph was fatally shot at Makeda’s Butter Cookies, a cookie shop in South Memphis, while he was in the store to buy cookies.
More from the Associated Press:
Police said two men exited a white Mercedes-Benz and fired shots into Makeda’s Homemade Cookies, which is near the rapper’s boyhood home in the Castalia neighborhood. Police released photos taken from surveillance video that captured the shooting, and authorities later found the car abandoned.
Justin Johnson and Cornelius Smith Jr., have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and other charges in the shooting and are being held in jail without bond. They are scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 20.
In April, Johnson was sentenced to two years in prison for violating his supervised release dealing with a previous weapons charge.
The autopsy from the shooting showed that Young Dolph was shot 22 times which included the forehead, temple, face, right back, center back, left-back, right arm, left arm, left chest, left abdomen, right chin, right neck, right wrist and right shoulder.
Just months before he was fatally shot, Dolph released an album titled, PAPER ROUTE iLLUMINATi.
Dolph was also the cousin of fellow Memphis rapper Key Glock.
With the unsolved murders of so many talented rappers still up in the air, hopefully, the family of Young Dolph can find some piece if the men charged will actually be found guilty.