March 17, 2005 @ 1:52 pm

Online Exclusive: Lil' Kim Is Going To Jail

Updated 3/18/05 [12:17 A.M.]:
It looks like another hip hop artist bites the dust of justice. On March 17, Lil' Kim was convicted of lying to a federal grand jury investigating a February 25, 2001 shooting outside of Manhattan's Hot 97 radio station. According to the AP,

Updated 3/18/05 [12:17 A.M.]:It looks like another hip hop artist bites the dust of justice. On March 17, Lil' Kim was convicted of lying to a federal grand jury investigating a February 25, 2001 shooting outside of Manhattan's Hot 97 radio station. According to the AP, the Brooklyn rapper was convicted of perjury and conspiracy but acquitted of obstruction of justice and faces up to 20 years in prison- ten years shy of her expected sentence. After the verdict Kim released the following statement, "I am disappointed in the verdict. However I was acquitted of the most serious charge, obstruction of justice." She added, "Throughout my life, I have always lived with adversity and will continue to have faith and do good for my family, friends and fans." In 2000, on "Notorious K.I.M.," Lil Kim rhymed "Never snitch, never send a nigga to jail," but now Kimberly Jones is going to prison for following this "Notorious" code of honor. The conflict started when Lil' Kim's entourage crossed paths with Capone-N-Noreaga at the station, according to AP. "Kim's entourage confronted them about the song "Bang, Bang" from a Capone-N-Noreaga album, which contained a scathing dis to Kim from her longtime rival, Foxy Brown. A shootout erupted, leaving one man injured and more than two dozen rounds fired." To the very end, Kim denied seeing Damion Butler and Suif Jackson at the scene of the shootout. However, security photos at Hot 97 show one of them opening a door for her and the pair outside together just moments before the shooting. Days before the verdict came, the headline from the Herald News Service read, "Lil Kim called 'laughable' liar." According to the wire, the federal prosecutor told the jury that the female rapper told "preposterous" lies when she took the stand in her trial for perjury, obstruction of justice and conspiracy. During assistant U.S. attorney Cathy Seibel's closing argument, she expressed "Maybe [Lil Kim] really believed she was the queen bee, that she was above the law." Despite the prosecutor's opinion on how truthful the rapper was being, Kim's attorney, Mel Sachs, insisted the prosecutors had presented a "bad, weak case." Kim is expected to serve five years on each of three counts of perjury and one count of conspiracy. Kim's assistant, Monique Dopwell, was also charged with perjury and conspiracy and acquitted of obstruction of justice. The AP reports that both shook their heads as the verdict was delivered. Sentencing was set for June 24.

Article tags: Online, Exclusive, Lil, Kim, Going, Jail 

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