Grammy-award winning rapper Lil’ Kim was sentenced today (July 6) in New York to a year and a day in prison and fined $50,000 for lying to a federal grand jury to protect friends involved in a 2001 shootout outside a Manhattan radio station. While many rappers have served time in prison, Lil’ Kim is the first big-name female to do so.
The artist, whose real name is Kimberly Jones, could have faced up to 20 years — five years each on three counts of perjury and one count of conspiracy — at her sentencing before U.S. District Judge Gerard Lynch. She was convicted of the charges in March.
The rapper told the grand jury she did not notice two of her close friends at the scene of the shootout — her manager, Damion Butler, and Suif Jackson, known as “Gutta.” Both have pleaded guilty to gun charges.
Jurors at the trial saw radio station security photos that depicted Butler opening a door for the rap star, and two witnesses who once made records with Lil’ Kim said they saw her at the station with Butler and Jackson.
The gun battle happened outside New York station WQHT-FM, known as Hot 97, when Lil’ Kim’s entourage crossed paths with a rival rap group, Capone-N-Noreaga.
Lil’ Kim’s group confronted the others about a Capone-N-Noreaga song, “Bang, Bang,” that contained an insult to Lil’ Kim from rival Foxy Brown. One man was hurt in the shootout that followed.
At trial, Lil’ Kim testified that she had a falling out after the shooting with Butler and with Antoine “Banger” Spain and James “Lil’ Cease” Lloyd, the two witnesses who said they saw her with Butler and Jackson.
She said they were freeloading at her New Jersey townhouse. “I was just fed up,” she told jurors. “They were taking advantage of me.”
Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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