December 02, 2006 @ 12:26 pm

Da Band's Chopper Goes To Trial For Armed Robbery

Alexis Jeffries

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Barnes, 21, was pulled over the July 31st weekend in Atlanta this year for speeding. When ticketed, police found he had prior charges pending, and detained him for the events on September 29, 2001 where the rapper allegedly robbed two men at gunpoint. "If found guilty, he faces 90 years in prison," Paul Gardner, Chopper’s attorney, said to Vibe.com. "For all intensive purposed, if he gets one-tenth of the time he’s facing, his career would be over, based on how fast the music industry is moving these days." Chopper is being charged with two counts of robbery with a dangerous weapon, two counts of robbery in a general sense, two counts of 2nd degree assault, and one Theft charge. When detained by Atlanta police, Chopper, aka “Young City”, was held on a failure to appear in court charge dating back to 2001 for the alleged robbery and assault charges. Bail was set at $75,000, and the rapper was released from the Baltimore County Detention Center. According to his lawyer, Chopper recently moved to Baltimore, MD from New Orleans with his family, and was selected for Diddy’s “Da Band” soon after. After a New Orleans police department assistant contacted him about his charges, he and his mother attempted to contact them while in Baltimore to figure out what was going on with the trial. Gardner claims they couldn’t get any straight answers and assumed that the charges had been dropped. "This is a five year-old trial that happened when he was 16 years old," Gardner said. "For the state to try him now after five years, and pursue him, is completely unwarranted. It’s a case of mistaken identity. The dangerous weapon was actually a bb gun that they alleged he committed the armed robbery with." Gardner expressed that Chopper plans to plea not guilty on all counts. "We will explore all of his options, but we don’t expect to get to that point." Gardner says. Chopper was not available for comment. Chopper first gained public recognition on Sean “Diddy” Combs’ 2002 hit series on MTV: Making The Band II. Under Diddy’s guidance, Barnes was briefly signed to the Bad Boy record label alongside his fellow cast members, and released the debut album, Too Hot For TV, with the group Da’ Band, before it was disbanded. After the group disbanded, Chopper was signed to Diddy’s Bad Boy South label, and released the single "“Lil’ Daddy".” He is currently signed to Cash Money Records, and plans to release his debut solo album, New Jack City, in 2007.

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