Busta Rhymes, Lil Wayne, Ja Rule, Remy Ma All Appear In Manhattan Court
Published: Wednesday - November 7, 2007
Words by Allen Starbury
Remy Ma (Photo: SRC / Universal)
Several of hip-hop big names were on hand to appear in Manhattan Wednesday morning (November 7), but it wasn't for a hot party, it was for court appearance.
Rappers Busta Rhymes, Ja Rule, Lil Wayne and female rapper Remy Ma all made court appearances at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York on Wednesday just within hours of one another.
Each recording artist were appearing before judges on various charges including misdemeanor assault, drug possession, felony gun-possession and even attempted murder.
Remy Ma (real name: Remy Smith) was there for the most serious of charges, attempted murder. She is accused of shooting her close friend, Makeda Barnes-Joseph, twice in the stomach following a heated argument over a reported $2,000 missing from her purse. She was arrested in July (see "Remy Ma Arrested, Charged With Attempted Murder") and has since been released on bond, arraigned and entered a not guilty plea (see "Remy Ma Pleads Not Guilty To Attempted Murder, Released On Bail").
Wednesday's brief appearance was less than five minutes, in which the judge was unable to rule on several motions, because the judge had not received a prosecutor's filings. "The prosecutor was hoping to get back DNA evidence from some blood found in Remy Smith's car, but it hasn't come back yet," Remy's lawyer, Ivan Fisher, said.
She is due back in court December 5, where the judge will announce a decision on the prosecutor's motions and may set a trial date.
Busta Rhymes (real name: Trevor Smith), who showed up first, was to begin his trial on a number of charges, including two misdemeanor assaults, drunk driving and driving with a suspended license. The New York Daily News reports that the judge adjourned the appearance until January 23 because he needed more time to review a request made by the defense.
In court with their mutual attorney, Stacey Richman, were Lil Wayne (real name: Dwayne Carter) and Ja Rule (real name: Jeffrey Atkins), who were both arrested in separate incidents on the same night in July following a headlining performance by Wayne in New York. The pair were arrested on felony gun-possession charges (see "Lil Wayne, Ja Rule Arrested In Separate NY Incidents"), which one of the charges, according their lawyer, wouldn't stick.
Richman told MTV at the time of the arrest that Wayne was in his tour bus in his boxer shorts with a number of other people, so "Unless his boxer shorts had a pocket for this gun, I don't understand how he had it on him."
As far as Ja Rule's arrest, he said that the pistol recovered from inside a car Rule was riding was actually someone else's.
Both rappers arrived in court separately, but they are both due back on February 25th.
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