Pop Smoke’s Killer “Lil Bam Bam” Sentenced to 4 Years for Smuggling Fentanyl

Deijae Devon Jester, the young man who admitted to fatally shooting Pop Smoke during a 2020 home invasion robbery, was sentenced Thursday to four years after pleading no contest to charges of smuggling fentanyl into a Los Angeles County juvenile detention center.

Jester, 21, known on the streets as Lil Bam Bam and identified by authorities as a member of the 107 Hoover Criminals, entered the plea in June to one count each of possession of a controlled substance for sale, bringing contraband into a jail, and bringing or sending contraband into a juvenile facility. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge P. Tamu Usher imposed the four-year term on Aug. 13. The sentence will be served in adult custody.

The case centers on a Dec. 14, 2025, visit at Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall in Sylmar, where Jester was serving time for the Pop Smoke murder. Prosecutors say his mother, Nickia Tyonia Randall, attempted to pass him two latex balls containing fentanyl pills. Staff recovered one of the balls, which held 25 pills. Investigators later reviewed recorded phone calls and earlier visit footage that showed discussions about smuggling contraband into the facility. Jester had previously been involved in multiple drug-related incidents while in custody, including at least one overdose that required Narcan.

In a recorded call after the incident, Jester told his mother he would “do my time like a man.” When the judge delivered the sentence, he bowed his head and nodded.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman addressed the outcome in a statement. “Deijae Jester committed a devastating crime when he took the life of Pop Smoke. Because he was a juvenile, the law afforded him an opportunity for redemption. Instead of embracing that opportunity, he chose to traffic one of the deadliest drugs imaginable from inside a juvenile detention facility,” Hochman said. “He was given the chance at rehabilitation by serving seven years in a juvenile hall but he chose to smuggle in fentanyl.”

Prosecutors had sought the maximum five-year sentence. Jester’s attorney noted his difficult upbringing — his mother gave birth to him while incarcerated on homicide charges, and he was raised by his paternal grandmother — as well as the fact that he earned a high school diploma while in custody and is now a father. The judge acknowledged those factors but emphasized the calculated nature of the smuggling effort and that the intended recipients were other minors.

Jester was 15 years old on Feb. 19, 2020, when he and three others broke into the Hollywood Hills Airbnb where Pop Smoke was staying. According to court records and a secretly recorded jailhouse conversation, the group confronted the rapper in the shower and demanded jewelry. When Pop Smoke resisted, Jester admitted to pistol-whipping him and shooting him three times in the back. The group left with a diamond-encrusted watch that was later sold for $2,000. Pop Smoke, born Bashar Barakah Jackson, died from gunshot wounds to the torso.

Because of his age at the time of the killing, Jester was prosecuted in juvenile court. In 2023 he admitted to first-degree murder with a firearm allegation and home-invasion robbery. Under California law, he could not be held in the juvenile system past age 25. The new conviction removes him from that placement.

Randall faces the same three felony charges related to the fentanyl incident. A warrant was issued for her earlier this year. She remains in custody in San Bernardino County on separate matters and has not yet entered a plea.

The sentencing closes another chapter in the long legal aftermath of Pop Smoke’s killing, moving the admitted shooter from the juvenile system into adult prison for trafficking fentanyl inside the facility that was meant to rehabilitate him.