December 12, 2005 @ 3:21 pm

Young Buck to Remain a Free Man

by: Alyssa Rashbaum

The rapper's charge of assault with a deadly weapon, stemming from the incident at last year's VIBE Awards, was dropped. Buck pleaded guilty to assault with a chance to produce bodily injury, according to MTV News, and was sentenced to three years of felony probation and 80 hours of community service. Initially scheduled to appear in court in just two weeks to start the trial, Buck will obviously not have to go to court for the assault charge.

right Turns out, there was a misunderstanding in the type of silverware in Buck's hand during the melee.

"What we'll tell you now is what we didn't tell anyone back then," said Buck's attorney, Scott Leemon, according to MTV News. "If you remember that first day [at Buck's arraignment in January], I told you pictures may be deceiving. Guess what? Pictures were deceiving. We knew that day in Buck's hand was a fork. He did not have a knife, he did not cause injury and what we were able to prove by DNA evidence, by video analysis, is actually he did not do the stabbing."

Apparently a knife found on the scene at the awards that had Jimmy James Johnson's blood on it also had DNA on it from sweat that did not come from Buck. The court also looked at a video of the melee and determined there was indeed a fork in the rapper's hand.

Buck reportedly admitted to having a fork and getting involved in the melee. But, he asserted, he did not cause injury and did not stab Johnson.

"I'm glad to get the situation over with," Buck said, "so I can get right back out here and make good music."

Before he can completely leave his court days behind, though, Buck must appear in a New York courtroom on January 26 on weapon-possession charges stemming from an August 8 arrest. Police pulled over a van carrying Buck, Lloyd Banks and nine other individuals after they ran a red light. The cops found two guns inside the van.

But despite the impending court date, Buck was excited to have rid himself of the assault charge. So excited that he even found time for a little self-promotion.

"Look out for my new album," he said, "it's gonna be in stores summertime of '06, Bad Influence, and you can hear all about the situation. G-Unit!"