Listen closely: you’ve heard his name in countless rap lyrics, from Nas’ “Memory Lane” to 50 Cent’s “Ghetto Qu’ran,” but if you were born after 1994, you probably don’t know anything about Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff.
Time for an education.
McGriff, known to the world as Supreme, was one of the biggest drug dealers in the country, then became involved with the ’90s hip-hop scene in New York, particularly as a protégé of Irv Gotti. While on the outside his story was that of a former felon trying to go straight in the music business, rumors swirled that behind the scenes, something much more sinister was going on. In 2007, McGriff was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of murder-for-hire. Many believe he ordered the 2001 killings of Mobb Deep affiliate Eric Smith (known as E-Moneybags) and “Big Nose” Troy Singleton.
Next year marks McGriff’s tenth year in a federal penitentiary for a crime he claims he didn’t commit, and now he’s looking for a pardon from President Barack Obama. Global Grind has exclusively obtained the poignant letter that McGriff sent to the President, seeking clemency for his alleged crimes. McGriff argues he was stripped of his constitutional rights when he wasn’t allowed to testify in his own trial, and was possibly sabotaged by his own attorney.
If this is true he deserves a retrial at the very least. Some folks are already fighting for his right to testify by signing a petition at change.org. At the moment the petition needs only 31 more signatures to reach its current goal, which is set at 200.
“Frederick Douglass said that power concedes nothing without a demand. I demand only that which is guaranteed by The Constitution. My right to testify, I did everything required by law to exercise my Constitutional rights to testify,” he begins. “I offered my life in exchange for my right to testify and was denied that right by my lawyerDavid Ruhnke, simply because he didn’t believe what I told him. In doing so, he violated my most basic fundamental Constitutional right.”
He continues, “Mr. President I implore you to correct this gross miscarriage of justice with a stroke of your pen. My true request is to be restored to my proper place in the legal process before my Constitutional right to testify was violated. To restore my guaranteed right to prove my innocence. My testimony is vital to my defense and only I can attest to the truth.”
Section II, Article 2 of the United States Constitution says the president “shall have the power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States.” Thanks to that, presidents can pardon anyone for any crime that would have been heard in a federal court. It remains as the president’s only absolute power. It’s why pardons are quite rare, and often controversial. Regardless of whether McGriff is granted his wish — highly unlikely, at this point — his story deserves to be heard. Is he another Black man incarcerated by a prejudiced system, or a career criminal with blood on his hands?
Read his letter, and you be the judge:
Dear Mr. President,
Frederick Douglass said that power concedes nothing without a demand. I demand only that which is guaranteed by The Constitution. My right to testify, I did everything required by law to exercise my Constitutional rights to testify. I plead not guilty, I made my lawyer aware I would testify and explained in detail exactly what my testimony would be. That is that it’s impossible to be guilty because the star witness Terence Terrell, who constructed the McGriff Enterprise, is someone I have never met or seen before, not once in my life. My attorney David Ruhnke, by his own admission in a sworn affidavit agrees in his own words, “The outline of what Mr. McGriff’s testimony would have been at trial, sounds very much like the discussions he and I had over many months. In my judgment most of it was he said, she said and virtually none of it was corroborated by other witnesses or evidence). It’s not his right to have a judgment on my right to testify. Only my judgment is guaranteed by the Constitution on this issue. The law is not always clear, but here it is absolutely clear. If a lawyer interferes with a defendant’s right to testify – A NEW TRIAL IS GRANTED. I find it problematic that my attorney gave me no agency to decide my own fate in a Death Penalty Trial. I offered my life in exchange for my right to testify and was denied that right by my lawyer David Ruhnke, simply because he didn’t believe what I told him. In doing so, he violated my most basic fundamental Constitutional right. There is no exception for that, it’s guaranteed! My right to testify is non-negotiable. You can’t put a man who desires to speak on trial for his life and the jury never hears the sound of his voice, because his ineffective court appointed attorney refuses to put him on the stand. The only reason I ended up with this lawyer is because the prosecution tricked my paid private attorney Robert Simels off the case with a false threat of introducing evidence at trial that he was part of the McGriff Enterprise – which they never produced. I would have needed to hire a lawyer for my attorney, which unfortunately there were no more resources to accomplish this. So I ended up with David Ruhnke, who basically facilitated the prosecution’s case and denied me the right to testify.
Mr. President, I implore you to correct this gross miscarriage of justice with a stroke of your pen. My true request is to be restored to my proper place in the legal process before my Constitutional right to testify was violated. To restore my guaranteed right to prove my innocence. My testimony is vital to my defense and only I can attest to the truth. Not my lawyer! It is incumbent upon you to explore your options and employ your Executive Powers, for a reclamation of my Constitutional Rights. If a man is prepared to die in exchange for his right to testify, his ersatz lawyer has no right to refuse to put him on the stand. This cannot stand! The enormity cannot be overstated! Terence Terrell gave mesmerizing and riveting testimony about clandestine meetings at restaurants, drugs, and money transactions. He built an elaborate hierarchy chart of the members of the McGriff Enterprise, 6 people with McGriff at the top, including pictures. He crafted an entire enterprise having worked with McGriff intimately for 2 years, collecting money, cutting and preparing drugs, he describes me down to the color of my eyes (which is common public knowledge). What is most important – during his sworn testimony, he identified and names 4 individuals that were present and witnessed all of this activity. Now there are 4 more witnesses provided by the prosecution’s own star witness. How is all of this even possible and I don’t even know who this person is? I have never seen him before, not one day in my life. My truth has never changed from the inception of this case. It is 10 years later and I was never allowed to speak one word on the record in court. While the optics of the prosecution’s case may appear to be impressive and visually stunning, upon closer inspection given the slightest challenge, it crumbles into dust. All of it is impossible, it is perjured testimony, he made the whole story up. If I am who they say I am, why would they need to have someone I have never seen before concoct this story? (It would have been more plausible if at least they used someone I knew or met). There is a systemic breakdown in the legal process when the most powerful person in the courtroom is the informant, when he is given free rein to conjure up anything without the slightest challenge. Do they think that I am a fool, that I don’t know who I know? The impropriety that they would prosecute me in a Death Penalty trial using perjured testimony. This is not rocket science!
EXCLUSIVE: Kenneth ‘Supreme’ McGriff Asks President Obama For A Pardon
Time for an education.
McGriff, known to the world as Supreme, was one of the biggest drug dealers in the country, then became involved with the ’90s hip-hop scene in New York, particularly as a protégé of Irv Gotti. While on the outside his story was that of a former felon trying to go straight in the music business, rumors swirled that behind the scenes, something much more sinister was going on. In 2007, McGriff was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of murder-for-hire. Many believe he ordered the 2001 killings of Mobb Deep affiliate Eric Smith (known as E-Moneybags) and “Big Nose” Troy Singleton.
Next year marks McGriff’s tenth year in a federal penitentiary for a crime he claims he didn’t commit, and now he’s looking for a pardon from President Barack Obama. Global Grind has exclusively obtained the poignant letter that McGriff sent to the President, seeking clemency for his alleged crimes. McGriff argues he was stripped of his constitutional rights when he wasn’t allowed to testify in his own trial, and was possibly sabotaged by his own attorney.
If this is true he deserves a retrial at the very least. Some folks are already fighting for his right to testify by signing a petition at change.org. At the moment the petition needs only 31 more signatures to reach its current goal, which is set at 200.
“Frederick Douglass said that power concedes nothing without a demand. I demand only that which is guaranteed by The Constitution. My right to testify, I did everything required by law to exercise my Constitutional rights to testify,” he begins. “I offered my life in exchange for my right to testify and was denied that right by my lawyerDavid Ruhnke, simply because he didn’t believe what I told him. In doing so, he violated my most basic fundamental Constitutional right.”
He continues, “Mr. President I implore you to correct this gross miscarriage of justice with a stroke of your pen. My true request is to be restored to my proper place in the legal process before my Constitutional right to testify was violated. To restore my guaranteed right to prove my innocence. My testimony is vital to my defense and only I can attest to the truth.”
Section II, Article 2 of the United States Constitution says the president “shall have the power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States.” Thanks to that, presidents can pardon anyone for any crime that would have been heard in a federal court. It remains as the president’s only absolute power. It’s why pardons are quite rare, and often controversial. Regardless of whether McGriff is granted his wish — highly unlikely, at this point — his story deserves to be heard. Is he another Black man incarcerated by a prejudiced system, or a career criminal with blood on his hands?
Read his letter, and you be the judge:
Dear Mr. President,
Frederick Douglass said that power concedes nothing without a demand. I demand only that which is guaranteed by The Constitution. My right to testify, I did everything required by law to exercise my Constitutional rights to testify. I plead not guilty, I made my lawyer aware I would testify and explained in detail exactly what my testimony would be. That is that it’s impossible to be guilty because the star witness Terence Terrell, who constructed the McGriff Enterprise, is someone I have never met or seen before, not once in my life. My attorney David Ruhnke, by his own admission in a sworn affidavit agrees in his own words, “The outline of what Mr. McGriff’s testimony would have been at trial, sounds very much like the discussions he and I had over many months. In my judgment most of it was he said, she said and virtually none of it was corroborated by other witnesses or evidence). It’s not his right to have a judgment on my right to testify. Only my judgment is guaranteed by the Constitution on this issue. The law is not always clear, but here it is absolutely clear. If a lawyer interferes with a defendant’s right to testify – A NEW TRIAL IS GRANTED. I find it problematic that my attorney gave me no agency to decide my own fate in a Death Penalty Trial. I offered my life in exchange for my right to testify and was denied that right by my lawyer David Ruhnke, simply because he didn’t believe what I told him. In doing so, he violated my most basic fundamental Constitutional right. There is no exception for that, it’s guaranteed! My right to testify is non-negotiable. You can’t put a man who desires to speak on trial for his life and the jury never hears the sound of his voice, because his ineffective court appointed attorney refuses to put him on the stand. The only reason I ended up with this lawyer is because the prosecution tricked my paid private attorney Robert Simels off the case with a false threat of introducing evidence at trial that he was part of the McGriff Enterprise – which they never produced. I would have needed to hire a lawyer for my attorney, which unfortunately there were no more resources to accomplish this. So I ended up with David Ruhnke, who basically facilitated the prosecution’s case and denied me the right to testify.
Mr. President, I implore you to correct this gross miscarriage of justice with a stroke of your pen. My true request is to be restored to my proper place in the legal process before my Constitutional right to testify was violated. To restore my guaranteed right to prove my innocence. My testimony is vital to my defense and only I can attest to the truth. Not my lawyer! It is incumbent upon you to explore your options and employ your Executive Powers, for a reclamation of my Constitutional Rights. If a man is prepared to die in exchange for his right to testify, his ersatz lawyer has no right to refuse to put him on the stand. This cannot stand! The enormity cannot be overstated! Terence Terrell gave mesmerizing and riveting testimony about clandestine meetings at restaurants, drugs, and money transactions. He built an elaborate hierarchy chart of the members of the McGriff Enterprise, 6 people with McGriff at the top, including pictures. He crafted an entire enterprise having worked with McGriff intimately for 2 years, collecting money, cutting and preparing drugs, he describes me down to the color of my eyes (which is common public knowledge). What is most important – during his sworn testimony, he identified and names 4 individuals that were present and witnessed all of this activity. Now there are 4 more witnesses provided by the prosecution’s own star witness. How is all of this even possible and I don’t even know who this person is? I have never seen him before, not one day in my life. My truth has never changed from the inception of this case. It is 10 years later and I was never allowed to speak one word on the record in court. While the optics of the prosecution’s case may appear to be impressive and visually stunning, upon closer inspection given the slightest challenge, it crumbles into dust. All of it is impossible, it is perjured testimony, he made the whole story up. If I am who they say I am, why would they need to have someone I have never seen before concoct this story? (It would have been more plausible if at least they used someone I knew or met). There is a systemic breakdown in the legal process when the most powerful person in the courtroom is the informant, when he is given free rein to conjure up anything without the slightest challenge. Do they think that I am a fool, that I don’t know who I know? The impropriety that they would prosecute me in a Death Penalty trial using perjured testimony. This is not rocket science!
EXCLUSIVE: Kenneth ‘Supreme’ McGriff Asks President Obama For A Pardon
Good luck with that whole pardon thing tho
