Chelsea Russell Convicted of A Hate Crime Using Rap Lyrics With N-Word’ Netizens are curious about Chelsea Russell’s Arrest after she won a legal battle against prosecution for posting rap lyrics on Instagram.
Chelsea made several headlines after she was found guilty of sending offensive lyrics on her Instagram account to pay tribute to Frankie Murphy.
The culprit is a 19 years old teenager named Chelsea Russell from Liverpool who dedicated Snap Dogg’s I’m Trippin’ to pay tribute to her friend who lost his life in a road crash.
The teenager faced charges after Merseyside Police were anonymously sent a screenshot of her update, which was declared offensive by Liverpool Justice Centre, Sefton Magistrates’ Court.
During the hearing, Chelsea argued it was not offensive but was handed a community order, and her sentence was increased from a fine to a community order for a hate crime.
Why Was Chelsea Russell Arrested?
Chelsea was prosecuted after posting rap lyrics, which included the N-word, on Instagram and has been found guilty of sending a grossly offensive message.
Chelsea’s profile came to the attention of the Police, who decided to arrest her and have her charged for posting the lyrical line ‘Kill a snitch ni**a, rob a rich n***a.’
The culprit was found in court to be ‘grossly offensive,’ and Chelsea was convicted of a hate crime.
In 2017, Chelsea Russell, a Liverpool teenager with Asperger’s syndrome, paid tribute on her Instagram profile to a 13-year-old friend who died when he was hit by a car.
She posted the lyrics of a rap song, ‘I’m Trippin” by Snap Dogg, alongside the phrase ‘RIP Frankie Murphy’ to pay tribute to her friend, Murphy.
Chelsea Russell Convicted of A Hate Crime Using Rap Lyrics With N-Word
What Are Charges Faced By Chelsea Russell?
According to sources, Chelsea was placed on an eight-week, eight am-to-8 pm curfew, fitted with an ankle tag, and ordered to pay £500 costs and an £ 85′ victim surcharge.’
The teenager’s defense lawyer slammed the initial verdict as ‘ridiculous,’ akin to the actions of a ‘totalitarian state.’However, her conviction was overturned on appeal.
Spike line claims Chelsea was convicted under the 2003 Communications Act – a 21st-century blasphemy law.
Currently, the law has been used to justify arresting more than 3,000 people yearly (nine people per day) for posting ‘grossly offensive’ content on social media.
In her case, The Crown Prosecution Service’s guidance says that context should be seen as a mitigating factor in such cases, and her context is rarely considered. In Chelsea Russell’s case, the prosecution refused to acknowledge the very concept of context.
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Where Is Chelsea Russell Now?
Chelsea has won the legal battle.
She was charged with sending a grossly offensive message using a public electronic communications network and was found guilty following a trial.
During her court hearing, Chelsea, the 19-year-old teenager, argued court shared the words in rap, but a district judge said they had “no place in civil society.”
Prosecutor Angela Conlan told the court that the words were posted to the bio section of her Instagram account and then reported to Police.
Court then passed the content to Constable Dominique Walker, based within a specialist Police hate crime unit.
During the investigation, PC Walker told the court that she found the words on Russell’s Instagram account grossly offensive.
However, unhappy netizens felt the state machinery could be wielded against a teenage girl with Asperger’s syndrome who was in mourning, all because an Instagram post, seen by a handful of people, was deemed offensive by a Police officer.
