Mac Could Be Out Of The Iron College!

The state of Louisiana is considering an early release for McKinley Phipps (aka Mac).

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It could be a breakthrough for McKinley Phipps, formerly known as rapper Mac. The 43-year old is currently in the iron college facing LIFE for a crime he swore he didn't commit. He performed at a nightclub in Louisiana when a fight broke out. Then there was a shooting where a man was killed.

The fight broke out before the show that resulted in a gunshot that struck and killed 19-year-old Barron C Victor, Jr. after Victor attempted to break up the fight. Phipps was arrested and charged with second-degree murder of Victor.

He was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to thirty years to life in prison on September 21, 2001.

He is currently serving his sentence at the Elayn Hunt Correctional Center in Louisiana. Days into the police investigation, Thomas Williams, a man who was working security that night at the club, confessed to shooting Victor after another patron charged him with a beer bottle. Despite this, police pursued charges against Phipps.

Mac was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 30 years in prison. He is currently serving his sentence at the Elayn Hunt Correctional Center in Louisiana. Phipps maintains his innocence, and his parents have campaigned to re-open the investigation into his case for many years.

The Louisiana Board of Pardons and Parole recommended Monday that Phipps be made eligible immediately for parole. It now goes to the desk of Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards for sign-off. If approved, Phipps will need to appear before the parole board one more time.

His wife Angelique Phipps have said on social media that she's hoping that the governor does consider her husband eligible for parole.

Mac recently married his wife. His wife has strongly advocated for his release.

Phipps has been on work release at a facility in Raceland in Lafourche Parish since earlier this month. Reliving the night of the shooting to the parole board Monday, Phipps recounted seeing a commotion on the dance floor and hearing a shot fired. He ran to the front door to look for his mother, and they left together, he said, adding that he later learned a man had been killed.

Russell Baker, a close childhood friend of Phipps who was with him that night, told HuffPost it’s been a long and painful struggle in the years since, and he won’t feel relief until he can finally see his friend back with his family.

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A post shared by Angelique Phipps (@angeliquephipps_)

“It’s basically 21 years to the date that it happened. When it first initially happened, my faith was strong and I basically knew that no innocent man would be sent to jail for life. I knew for a fact that he was innocent,” Baker said. “My faith in the justice system has taken a hit.”

He said he will forever be sympathetic to the victim’s family, but it doesn’t change what happened to his friend.

Erik Nielson, a University of Richmond professor and co-author of “Rap on Trial: Race, Lyrics and Guilt in America,” has been a part of the team fighting for Phipps’s freedom. Nielson has conducted extensive research that has been critical of the use of lyrics to seek criminal convictions against Black artists.

“Everybody is very optimistic that this is by far the key hurdle,” he told HuffPost of Monday’s verdict. “His whole family has been tireless. His parents have been so beaten down by the process.”

But there’s still some uncertainty hanging, he said. “It’s not over until he’s out.”