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"Sensitive," "Utterly Well Mannered" Lil Wayne's Guilty Plea
By
Ben Yakas
Published Oct 23, 2009
Modified Oct 23, 2009
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Oct 23, 2009
Modified Oct 23, 2009
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As reported yesterday, superstar rapper/pot-enthusiast Lil Wayne pled guilty to gun possession charges in Manhattan Supreme Court, and is expected to serve most of 2010 behind bars in Rikers. The plea of "attempted possession" came as a surprise from Wayne, a dramatic turnaround after his attorneys spent the past two years arguing that police could not prove the gun found on his tour bus in July 2007 belonged to him. His defense lawyer, Stacey Richman, told MTV: "He opted to take the deal to take responsibility for the situation and I think it speaks of him that he's an individual with a strong constitution that he took that responsibility."
A lot of controversy has surrounded the police's use of "low copy number DNA profiling" to link him to the gun, a technique that requires only a very few number of skin cells to get results, and his defense was expected to argue that aspect of evidence. Had it gone to trial, Wayne could have been charged with the mandatory 3 1/2 years minimum in prison, the same sentence that Plaxico was facing before his plea last year. When the judge reminded Wayne he couldn't rescind the plea, he said, "I'm not one of those people."
The Post described Wayne as "surprisingly docile" and "utterly well mannered" at court yesterday, but we suppose they were expecting him to light up a joint or something?
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gun charges
lil wayne
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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