A second conviction will move one of those responsible for Pop Smoke’s death from the juvenile system into adult custody. Deijae Devon Jester, who was just 15 when the Brooklyn rapper was killed during a 2020 home invasion, was sentenced on Thursday (August 13) to four years in prison after pleading no contest in a fentanyl case connected to the juvenile detention center where he was being held.
Now 21, Jester admitted to possessing 25 fentanyl-laced pills that prosecutors said his mother, Nickia Randall, attempted to smuggle to him during a December 2025 visit at Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall.
According to the Los Angeles Times and the L.A. District Attorney’s Office, staff became suspicious during the visit and recovered a latex-wrapped bundle containing the pills. Investigators also reviewed earlier visits and recorded phone calls, which they said revealed Jester discussing plans to have contraband brought into the facility.
Prosecutors pushed for the maximum five-year sentence, while Jester’s attorney highlighted his difficult upbringing and the strides he had made behind bars, including earning his high school diploma. The judge ultimately handed down a four-year sentence, noting that Jester’s age and background were taken into account but concluding that he fully understood his actions when the fentanyl was brought into the facility.
The latest conviction changes Jester’s custody status following his original juvenile case. In 2023, he admitted to first-degree murder and acknowledged that he was the one who fired the shots that killed Pop Smoke. Since he was only 15 at the time of the crime, he could not be tried as an adult and was expected to remain in a juvenile facility until he turned 25. However, the Los Angeles Times reports that his new four-year sentence will be served in adult prison. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, meanwhile, described the punishment on Friday as four years in county jail. Regardless of where the sentence is carried out, the fentanyl conviction removes Jester from the juvenile facility where he had been serving time for Pop Smoke’s killing.
Pop Smoke was killed on February 19, 2020, after a group broke into the Hollywood Hills home he was renting. Detectives testified that Jester later recounted the shooting to a cellmate in a room fitted with hidden recording devices. According to that account, Pop Smoke initially handed over his jewelry before resisting. Jester said he struck the rapper with a pistol and then shot him three times in the back. A diamond-encrusted watch stolen during the robbery was later sold for $2,000.
Corey Walker, who was 19 during the robbery, was sentenced to 29 years in state prison in February 2025 after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter and two counts of home-invasion robbery. He also admitted to providing the firearm used in the crime. The other defendants were prosecuted in juvenile court because they were minors when Pop Smoke was killed.
Meanwhile, Randall is facing felony charges related to the alleged attempt to pass fentanyl to her son. Prosecutors said her case is still pending, and she has not yet entered a plea.
