by TChris

Charges against Philadelphia rapper "Filthy Rich," a/k/a Richard Rayordo Harris, will be dropped after a judge suppressed key evidence that the prosecution neglected to provide to the defense. The judge also suppressed statements made by Harris and pre-trial witness identifications. The prosecutor blamed a heavy workload for his failure to turn over evidence that included transcripts of conversations that the police recorded using wiretaps in its investigation of an alleged cocaine distribution ring.

Harris was facing a drug kingpin count that carried a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years. Harris' lawyer, William Riddle, argued that the prosecutor wasn't playing around with the charges but seemed to be playing around with discovery.

It isn't the first time the state's attorney's office has failed to provide evidence to defendants on time. In April, [State's Attorney] Eastridge dropped a rape case after a clerical error caused his office to miss a 45-day deadline to turn over DNA evidence. Eastridge also blamed that mistake on his office's high caseload.