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Who favorited?T.I. To Enter Plea Deal, Sentenced to 1 Year, Community Service
by on March 27th, 2008
ATLANTA (AP) — Rapper T.I. was expected to plead guilty Thursday to federal weapons charges and will face prison time, according to two people familiar with his case.
The 27-year-old singer, whose real name is Clifford Harris, was expected to be sentenced to 1,500 hours of community service talking to youth groups around the country, followed by about 12 months in prison, according to two people familiar with the negotiations who spoke on condition of anonymity because the plea deal had not been finalized yet Thursday morning.
Harris is one of Atlantic Records' most successful artists. His sixth album, "T.I. vs. T.I.P.," was released July 3, debuting at No. 1. He appeared in the 2007 film "American Gangster," which starred Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe.
His prison time could be increased or reduced, depending on his fulfillment of the terms of the deal and good behavior, the two people familiar with the negotiations said. His talks to youth groups are supposed to be about the pitfalls of guns, gangs and drugs.
The U.S. Attorney in Atlanta announced a change-of-plea hearing was scheduled Thursday afternoon at the federal courthouse. Prosecution officials were expected to speak to the media after the hearing.
U.S. District Judge Charles Pannell Jr. must approve the deal.
Harris was arrested Oct. 13, just blocks away and hours before he was to headline the BET Hip-Hop Awards in Atlanta.
He was charged with possession of unregistered machine guns and silencers, as well as possession of firearms by a convicted felon. He faced a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count.
Harris was allegedly trying to buy unregistered machine guns and silencers. He initially pleaded not guilty, and has been under house arrest since he was released on $3 million bond Oct. 26.
Harris, co-CEO of Grand Hustle Records, grew up in Atlanta. His first taste of success came with his 2003 album, "Trap Muzik." In 2004, warrants were issued for his arrest on probation violations for a drug conviction, and he was sentenced to three years behind bars.
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Now, THAT’S gangsta!
im glad he aint in the box for that long
that would be shitty
holla at cha boi one two four steady mobbin on them hairy tootsies
i know alot of people is gonna hate on the fact that he got out easy one a federal offence charge but thats the way America works
the more money less sentence
BTW….I wonder what would have happened if it was me instead of T.I.? Would I have gotten the same deal with the same amount of evidence…..hmmmm?
Like Snoop say, “Thats that Shit”
This nigga need to be in prison, 20yrs minimum for a repeat offender. Ignorant ass, ain’t shit with black ppl gone be right till we hold our stars to the same penalties we’d like to see carried out on “the man”. Yeah, i’m on some Uncle Ruckus shit right now
LOL sike nah, Congrats to TI for not doing like 15 years. Christmas came early for him this year. Hopefully he won’t do some dumb shit like buy guns from the Feds again.
What good would throwing him behind bars for 10 to 15 do anyway. Now he can at least get out and really show our kids that the streets aren’t the way to go.
I wonder what Prodigy has to think about this…
You KNOW he had good lawyers, provided by him and/or Atlantic since you know they don’t want to see one of their “top-selling” artists go away when he was dropping a cd a year.
Plus, there were allegations that the way they arrested him was shady, and they didn’t have warrants to search his house and whatnot …
I bet it was just a messy case that couldn’t be organized in time by the D.A.
…get with the program ppl