www.nytimes.com
The rapper Tupac Shakur was sentenced today to 120 days in jail for violating probation on his assault and battery conviction in attacking a music video producer.
Judge Abraham Kahn gave Mr. Shakur, 24, until June 7 to surrender to serve his sentence, imposed because he had failed to serve with a freeway cleanup crew for 15 days as part of the community service portion of his probation. The judge also fined him $1,000.
In 1994 Mr. Shakur was convicted of attacking a music video producer who had dismissed the rapper six months earlier for violent behavior. Mr. Shakur was sentenced to 15 days in jail, 30 months of probation and 45 days of community service, including 15 days on freeway cleanup.
Deputy City Attorney Sandra Jo Streeter, arguing that he should go to jail, said he had also violated probation with convictions in Michigan and New York on charges of assault, battery and sexual abuse.
Mr. Shakur also faces charges in Los Angeles of being a convicted felon in charge of a firearm. He is now free on bail while appealing his New York conviction, in which he was found guilty of sexually abusing a female fan in his hotel room.
A free man.
www.mtv.com
Livin' large? Livin' a charmed life? Well, at least he's
livin' free for the moment. Tupac Shakur's 120-day jail term (for a violation
of his probation on a 1994 misdemeanor battery conviction by being convicted in
New York on sex abuse charges) has been put on hold until there is a ruling on
Shakur's appeal of both the sex abuse conviction and the probation violation,
Reuters reported today. The hit rapper is currently working on a movie,
"Gridlock"; Judge Abraham Khan ruled yesterday (Friday, June 7) that it would
be unfair to send him to jail while the appeals are pending. Shakur told
reporters after the hearing that he's being hounded by the authorities. "Sure I
did some bad things years ago but I've changed," he said. "I just want to get
on with my life and they don't want to let me.
The 1994 misdemeanor
battery conviction resulted from a March, 1993 assault on a Hollywood video
producer. Then there were those illegal weapons charges that Shakur pleaded
guilty to last month; police had found a loaded pistol in the rapper's car in
April, 1994 after stopping him for speeding. Shakur pleaded guilty to that one.
Sentencing was postponed until September 12 and the case is expected to be
dropped if he fulfills his promise to organize a concert to benefit
underprivileged inner-city children. No word on when the concert will take
place, and who is performing.
