Customer and Companion Convicted in Robbery, Shooting at Recording Studio

May 15, 2022 – Two men were convicted Friday of shooting and robbing the owner of a South Memphis recording studio where one of them had recorded a song the previous week, said Shelby County Dist. Atty. Gen. Amy Weirich.

A Criminal Court jury deliberated parts of two days before convicting Corey Brown and Christopher Bolden, both 31, of especially aggravated robbery which involves robbery with a deadly weapon and serious bodily injury.

Both defendants have prior robbery convictions and face 15 to 25 years in prison without the possibility for parole when they are sentenced next month.

The crime occurred on July 2, 2018, at the IMOB Swag Heavy Studios in the 700 block of South Dudley where Brown had booked recording time singing under the name “Goon Corleone.”

When Brown arrived that day for another recording session, however, Bolden was with him. As the 34-year-old owner was setting up the equipment, he was struck him with a pistol and shot twice in the leg.

His assailants stole money from his pockets and then took a video monitor that was connected to the studio’s surveillance system. They did not take the DVR box containing video of their departure which showed them carrying the monitor and an assault rifle wrapped in a shirt. The video was shown to the jury.

When walking through the studio to leave, one of the defendants stepped over the wounded victim and shot him again in the shoulder. The bullet still is in his body, lodged near his spine.

The case was handled by Asst. Dist. Attys. Brad Reasonover and Forrest Edwards of the District Attorney’s Vertical Team 3 which prosecutes cases in General Sessions Division 11 and in Criminal Court Division 3.