May 27, 2020 – Beloved Detroit rapper DaJuan (Street Lord Juan) Wren is trying to fight his way out of prison early on the crest of the Coronavirus pandemic many non-violent offenders in his same situation are successfully leveraging for their freedom. Wren, 43, was found guilty at a federal drug and weapons trial in 2011. He’s currently scheduled to be released in May 2025.
Attorneys for Wren are reportedly preparing to file a compassionate release request and supporters of his recently started a Change.org page petitioning for mercy from the courts or the White House. U.S. President Donald Trump’s First-Step Act, signed into law last year, has freed droves of non-violent drug offenders.
Old-school Detroit drug boss Felix (The Cat) Walls, 78, maintained a Change.org page and walked free last month on a compassionate release from a life sentence after 26 years behind bars. Black Mafia Family co-founder Terry (Southwest T) Flenory, 50, got out the same way earlier this month, six years prior to his scheduled release. “BMF” started in Motown in the 1990s and rose to rule the American drug trade of the 2000s, establishing franchises in 24 major cities around the country while becoming firmly embedded in the pop-culture ether.
Wren was a founding member of the seminal Street Lordz rap crew, legends of the Detroit underground hip-hop movement. Their 1998 debut album, Platinum Roleez Don’t Tic Toc, is considered a classic and featured appearances by Too Short, Spice One and E-40. In 2004, Street Lord Juan released his solo debut, The Real Me. Blade Icewood (aka Darnell Lindsay), the de-facto leader of the Street Lordz group, was slain in April 2005, killed outside a car wash behind the wheel of his Range Rover in a feud with a rival rap crew.
By the end of the decade, the DEA had begun investigating Street Lord Juan for dealing heroin, cocaine and marijuana. He was being supplied by Antonio (Pancho) Simmons, the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel’s main distributor in Michigan. Two of the men in the Simmons drug network, Michael (Moe Green) Cathey and David (Razor Blade) Wynn, were star witnesses at Wren’s trial.
Simmons, 47, pleaded guilty in the case and has a summer 2024 out-date. Wren was convicted of heroin and marijuana charges and for possessing an unregistered handgun DEA agents found in a raid of his Royal Oak, Michigan home in March 2009.
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