Rapper Ja Rule Free Until February Sentencing in Gun Charge Case

By Alicia Cruz

The Black Urban Times

New York Supreme Court judge Richard Carruthers rejected "Holla Holla" hip hop artist, Ja Rule's argument that a weapon found in his possession was illegally obtained evidence, clearing the way for prosecutors to take the 34-year-old to trial. Instead, he pleaded guilty to the charge stemming from his 2007 arrest in New York City and remains free until he is sentenced in February 2011.
The New York Post reported that the rapper was promised a two-year prison sentence.

In July 2007, police said they stopped a Maybach luxury vehicle for speeding carrying Ja Rule, whose real name is Jeffrey Atkins.

The Grammy Award nominee had just left the Beacon Theater following a concert headlined by Lil Wayne, who was also charged with gun possession that night. Officers said they smelled marijuana after they approached the chauffeured vehicle and a subsequent search produced a loaded semiautomatic gun found in the rear door of the $250,000-plus car, which had a suspended registration sticker and no insurance, according to police.

Atkins allegedly admitted to police that he had "a little bit of weed" on him during the search. He pleaded not guilty to criminal weapon possession during his arraignment, but argued that the traffic stop was unjustified and questioned a type of DNA analysis used. The judge threw out the rapper’s statement to police, but allowed the gun possession charge to stick.

Lil Wayne, whose real name is Dwayne Carter Jr., was also charged with gun-possession and pleaded guilty last year to attempted criminal possession of a weapon. He admitted he’d had a loaded, semiautomatic .40-caliber gun on his tour bus, which was also stopped after the concert.

Carter served eight months at Rikers Island and was released last month.

The gravelly voiced entertainer is married and has three children with his Junior High School sweetheart who he married in 2001. Atkins landed a Grammy Award nomination in 2002 for the best rap album “Pain is Love," and is well known for collaborations with artists such as Ashanti and Jennifer Lopez. He has appeared in movies “The Fast and the Furious” and 2003’s “Scary Movie 3.”

Atkins found himself in trouble with the law once before when he was arrested in 2004 for driving on a suspended license and possessing marijuana. That same year police investigated a fatal shooting at midtown Manhattan nightclub, LQ, during a party hosted by the former Inc., artist that left one man dead and another hospitalized.

Atkins was then sued in 2004 after a Florida woman claimed the rapper paid her $46,000 to rent her waterfront mansion for the 2001 Memorial Day weekend then allowed MTV Cribs to film it as his own. The show filmed Atkins walking around the home, according to ALLHIPHOP.COM.

"She lives there. They filmed and showed her bedroom, her living room," said Robert Cooper, attorney for Jeanette Varela, the owner of the mansion. 

Cooper added that Atkins hosted a party for 600 people at his client's home then trashed it. There were "numerous syringes and condom wrappers strewn about the mansion," according to the lawsuit. Varela said the party and filming breached their contract.

If Atkins had gone to trial and was found guilty of the gun charge, he could have faced four years in prison.