Lawyer slams 'ridiculous' case which saw teen prosecuted for Instagramming N-word rap lyrics

A teenager prosecuted after posting rap lyrics including the N-word on Instagram had her conviction overturned today.

Chelsea Russell quoted a song by US rapper Snap Dogg, which included the lines "kill a snitch n****" and "rob a rich n****".

She posted the line, from the artist's 2016 track I'm Trippin, accompanied by emoji pictures of a gun and a bag of money.

The 18-year-old, who has Asperger's syndrome, also included "RIP Frankie Murphy" as part of her publicly accessible 'bio'.

Frankie, 13, died after he was hit by a car while riding a bike along Liverpool Road in Page Moss on October 24, 2016.

The 2017 post was reported to police and passed to PC Dominique Walker, based within a Merseyside Police hate crime unit.

PC Walker is the sister of Anthony Walker, the 18-year-old victim of an infamous race hate murder in Merseyside in 2005.

Russell, of Stonedale Crescent, Croxteth, was found guilty of sending a grossly offensive message in a trial in April last year.

She argued the use of the word was popularised by hugely successful and popular hip hop stars like Jay-Z and Kanye West.

Russell said: "Young people across Liverpool use the word to greet each other. I listen to rap music and it's in every single song."

But PC Walker told Sefton Magistrates' Court the words were upsetting and grossly offensive to both black and white people.

She said the word was always offensive, no matter who used it, and it did not matter that it was spelt ending 'a' rather than 'er'.

A district judge said the lyrics were "grossly offensive" and hit Russell with an eight-week home curfew with an electronic tag.

But today the now 20-year-old persuaded a crown court judge otherwise when she challenged the conviction and sentence.

Kenneth Grant, prosecuting, said the post could be seen by Instagram users across the world and had "an obvious hate element".

He said it was used in conjunction with talk of killing and robbing, and disputed that it could be used as a substitute for "bro" or "mate".

Mr Grant said that argument was "difficult to comprehend" and said: "Would one write, 'rob a rich mate', or 'kill a snitch mate'?"

He proposed to call two police officers to give evidence that the N-word was not commonly used in Liverpool as a form of greeting.

However, this was rejected by Recorder Paul O'Brien, who agreed with defence lawyers the officers were not qualified to give expert evidence.

When interviewed by police, Russell said whether the N-word was offensive depended on who you said it to, how you said it and "if you're horrible or not".

Liverpool Crown Court heard she said "everyone" she knew said it to each other and told officers: "I was not being horrible."

William Beardmore, defending, made an application of no case to answer, arguing Russell copied lyrics from a song widely available in the UK.

He said the video of I'm Trippin could be watched on YouTube, the lyrics read online and the track listened to on iTunes and other platforms.

Mr Beardmore said none of those publishers had been arrested, yet it was now "tenuously" suggested pasting the lyrics on Instagram was illegal.

He said: "It's a ridiculous state of affairs and quite staggering that in a liberal democracy we're taking up court time talking about this particular type of activity.

"It may well be understandable perhaps if we were in a totalitarian state, but we're not, we're in the UK."

Mr Beardmore said prosecutors had to prove Russell intended the words to be grossly offensive and hip hop music was part of society.

He added: "It may be the case some find this type of music offensive, but that's not sufficient for the offence to be made out."

The judge, sitting with two magistrates, said it was an "unpleasant" term, but one commonly used in hip hop music and culture.

Recorder Paul O'Brien said: "When she was interviewed, she simply said she had no intention of being, as she put it, 'horrible'.

"And it's our view that there was no such intent in this case that would be required for a conviction."

He added: "It's our view that the words which were set out on the Instagram account by Chelsea Russell were thoughtless, offensive and unpleasant.

"But it's also our view applying the [legal] test that they were not grossly offensive and therefore this appeal is successful."