NEW YORK (AP) - Lil Wayne, who owned last year's best-selling
album and is currently No. 1 on the pop charts, pleaded guilty to
attempted weapon possession on Thursday, and expects to receive a
one-year jail sentence.
The performer, arguably rap's most popular artist and one of
pop's biggest acts, previously had pleaded not guilty to illegal
gun possession charges that carried at least 3½ years in jail upon
conviction. He remains free on bail while awaiting his February
sentencing.
The somber-looking rapper did not speak as he left the
courthouse with members of his entourage, who piled into four SUVs.
Police said a gun was found on his tour bus in Manhattan in
2007.
The rapper, born Dwayne Carter, won last year's best rap solo
performance Grammy for "A Milli." His albums include "Tha
Carter," "Tha Carter II" and "Tha Carter III."
His trial had been due to start Jan. 20. The judge had been
holding a hearing on a debated DNA profiling technique used to tie
the rapper to the gun.
Lil Wayne, 27, also is scheduled for trial in Arizona on felony
drug possession and weapons charges. He has pleaded not guilty in
that case, which arose from a January 2008 arrest at a U.S. Border
Patrol checkpoint.
In New York, he politely answered the judge's standard questions
with "yes, Sir" and "no, Sir" as he entered his plea to
second-degree attempted weapon possession, a felony.
He acknowledged he had a .40 caliber semi-automatic loaded gun
on bus.
When the judge warned that he would not be able to withdraw the
plea as some people try to do, the rapper said, "I'm not one of
those people."
Prosecutors said small amounts of DNA found on the loaded weapon
connected it to the platinum-selling artist. Defense lawyer Stacey
Richman said the gun wasn't Lil Wayne's, and the testing technique
was too problematic to prove otherwise.
Police pulled over Lil Wayne's tour bus in Columbus Circle on
July 22, 2007. They said they had seen and smelled marijuana smoke
wafting out the door before the bus left a concert venue minutes
earlier.
Police said that as an officer approached, the rapper tossed
away a Louis Vuitton bag containing a gun.
The defense disputed officers' basis for searching the bus and
noted that more than a dozen other people were aboard.
Over the past two years Lil Wayne has not only emerged as the
best-selling figure in rap but in all music. His "Tha Carter III"
topped all album sales in 2008 with 2.8 million copies sold off of
hits like the No. 1 smash like "Lollipop."
A rapper since he was a teen, Lil Wayne's popularity exploded
thanks to his voluminous output on the mixtape circuit and
collaborations with other artists. He currently has the No. 1 song
in the country with Jay Sean, "Down."
Lil Wayne is the latest in a long line of rappers to face
incarceration after topping the charts. Tupac Shakur, Lil Kim,
Beanie Sigel, Shyne, Mystikal, C-Murder are just a few of the names
who have done a few months to several years behind bars for crimes
committed after they became famous.
Earlier this year, T.I., who is also one of rap's top sellers,
reported to prison in May for his conviction on weapons charges.
He's expected to serve a year and a day.
While some rappers have not regained their chart status after
prison or jail, Shakur became even more popular, and T.I. remains
popular on the radio.
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AP Music Writer Nekesa Mumbi Moody contributed to this report.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
