BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) -
Rap Artist Lil Boosie was released from the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola Wednesday night.
Angola State Penitentiary Warden Burl Cain confirms the rapper, who is
legally named Torrence Hatch, was released at 7:10 p.m. He was
transferred to a sheriff's department facility in St. Francisville where
family members were waiting for him.
A native of Baton Rouge, the rapper has fans worldwide who have commonly used the term "Free Boosie" since his incarceration.
Boosie has been serving prison time on drug charges in 2009. The
Louisiana Department of Corrections Wednesday afternoon had the rapper's
official release date listed as May 20, 2014.
In 2012, the rapper went on trial for murder but was found not
guilty. Prosecutors called more than two dozen witnesses in the trial
but a jury rendered a verdict after just one hour of deliberating. He
was accused of hiring a man to kill a local rap artist.
He will remain on parole until 2018.
Boosie is scheduled to attend a news conference in New Orleans Monday, organized by Atlantic Records.
A press conference that
will take place March 10. Atlantic Records'
Ashley Kalmanowitz explained to
NOLA that
he will "absolutely" be attending the event, where the Baton Rouge
native will speak for the first time since he was sentenced to five
years in prison for various charges. "He will absolutely be there," she
said. "He'll be speaking to the press for the first time ... after his
release." His most recent charge was in 2011, when he pleaded guilty for
attempting to smuggle narcotics in prison.
Kalmanowitz wouldn't comment on Boosie's deal with Atlantic, stating
the rapper would explain that during his press conference as well. "(Lil
Boosie) is actually going to be clearing all that stuff up for
everybody there, so I'm going to let him relay that information."
MSG FROM BOOSIE'S DAUGHTER"