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After two days of deliberations the jury in the Lil’
Kim case finally came up with a verdict, one that saddened
the hip-hop world. Kimberly Jones, as she was referred to
in court, was convicted of three counts of perjury and of
one count of conspiracy on March 17th. Her assistant Monique
Dopwell was also convicted of perjury and conspiracy. The
charges for Kim hold a maximum sentence of 20 years hard time,
and for Monique 15 years maximum but as first time offenders
the Judge isn’t expected to give them the maximum at
their June 24th sentencing.
The case against the ladies was extremely large and would
have been quite hard to go without a conviction. Both women
were accused of lying to a grand jury about the whereabouts
of her manager, Damion Butler, and Suif "Gutta"
Jackson on the night of a shootout in front of WQHT (HOT 97)
in 2001. The shootout was sparked by the Lil’ Kim and
Foxy Brown beef, mainly Foxy’s lyrics on a track called
“Bang Bang” which she did with Capone and Noriega
(CNN). CNN and Lil’ Kim’s entourages where scheduled
for back to back appearances on the radio station and sometime
between Kim’s entourage exiting the building and CNN’s
crew entered the building the two crews confronted each other
outside sparking a shootout which left 20 rounds fired and
left one person wounded. Kim denied remembering the details
saying that all she remembered was being pick up and swished
away to safety by her security and she went on saying that
she didn’t remember seeing Jackson or Butler there.
Butler and Jackson have both pled guilty to gun charges and
are serving ten-year sentences now.
Prosecutors presented video of Kim, Butler, and Jackson all
walking out the building together just seconds before the
shootout. Kim also told the Grand Jury that she and Jackson
weren’t even that close which the prosecution also rejected
by showing music video clips of Kim sitting between both Butler
and Jackson.
Former friends and other rappers who all testified against
her riddled Kim’s case with holes. The prosecution brought
James “Lil Cease” Lloyd and Antoine “Banger”
Spain both former members of the hit making rap group Junior
M.A.F.I.A. They testified that Butler and Jackson were both
at the station with her and that there was no way she couldn’t
remember it since Kim and Butler were an item at the time.
Prosecution also brought out Capone of CNN who testified that
Kim was at the scene and she was standing there just seconds
before the two crews opened fire.
Kim’s lawyer Mel Sachs tried to argue that Kim was traumatized
and she couldn’t remember the details of the event that
happened two years before it was brought to the grand jury.
He also said that there was no reason for Kim to try to protect
Butler and Jackson because after the shoot out Kim had a falling
out with Butler, Banger and Cease because they kept freeloading
off of her in her New Jersey home. Apparently that wasn’t
enough for this jury not to convict.
Lil’ Kim would be the first female rapper to ever do
such a large stint of jail time if that is the sentence. She
would also be the biggest name to go to jail for a crime.
Although Shyne, Beanie Siegel, Turk, Mystical, and C Murder
are all currently serving sentences and doing stints in prison,
none of them have Kim’s superstar status.
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