An Atlanta man accused of stealing unreleased music by Beyoncé has pleaded guilty on the eve of trial as part of a deal with prosecutors.
Kelvin Evans, 40, entered a guilty plea Tuesday (May 12) in Fulton County Superior Court, admitting to entering an automobile and criminal trespass. Under the plea deal, the judge sentenced him to two years in prison — much less than the six he might have faced if convicted.
“He is looking forward to putting this relatively large part of his life behind him and hoping for a future where he can make money legitimately and be part of society like the rest of us,” the man’s lawyer told the judge at the live-streamed court hearing. Evans will also serve three years on probation following his sentence.
Evans was arrested last summer over accusations that he broke into a rental car belonging to Beyoncé’s choreographer, Christopher Grant, who was in Atlanta ahead of a stop on the star’s Cowboy Carter tour. Grant told police that the luggage contained laptops, luxury clothing and, most notably, hard drives containing unreleased Beyoncé material.
At Tuesday’s hearing, prosecutors played surveillance footage allegedly showing the break-in, saying they would have used it at a jury trial that had been set to start this week. Prosecutors said they would have won the trial, but agreed to the plea deal to avoid any “uncertainty” over a potential verdict.
“While we believe the state had a very strong case, there are some parts that are circumstantial in this particular case that a reasonable jury may have found a defendant not guilty,” the prosecutor said.
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