Beannie Sigel goes to jail
PHILADELPHIA,
Pennsylviania-
Gangster rapper Beanie Sigel was sentenced to a year in federal prison Friday
on a gun-possession charge stemming from a traffic stop. Sigel, 30, could have
received more than three years, but the judge cited the rapper's charity work
and drug abuse treatment in taking leniency. "It is clear that the defendant
has made a substantial effort to change his life," said U.S. District Judge R.
Barclay Surrick. Prosecutors had argued that Sigel was much like the man he
presents himself as in his gritty lyrics: a ruthless, dangerous gangster. The
charges stemmed from a 2002 incident in which Sigel jumped from his car and
ran after a traffic stop. But the heavyset rapper did not get far, and
allegedly tossed a loaded gun during the short chase. Officers also found
prescription drugs and marijuana in Sigel's Cadillac Escalade. Sigel's rap
sheet dates to when he was a teenager and makes it illegal for him to own a
handgun.
Pleading for leniency before a courtroom of supporters that included
the rap superstar Jay-Z, Sigel acknowledged that he was in a "reckless
situation, a dangerous situation" at the time of the incident, but told the
judge he was a changed man. "I'm not the guy that people think I am," he said.
Motioning to his children, he said, "I want them to be able to lift their
heads up and say, 'That's my dad. That's Dwight Grant. Not Beanie Sigel."
Family members and business colleagues told the judge that the rapper has a
"positive message" and is a good role model for kids. That suggestion
irritated prosecutor Curtis Douglas, who quoted lyrics from a song on Sigel's
soon-to-be released album, in which the rapper fantasizes about taking
vengeance against his enemies by pouring acid on their children and raping
their pregnant girlfriends. "The very idea that this defendant is here as a
role model is somewhat repulsive," Douglas said. The rapper, whose birth name
is Dwight Grant, also faces trial in January on charges that he shot and
seriously wounded a man outside a Philadelphia bar, and also faces charges
that he punched a man in the face. Sigel was a protégé of Jay-Z, and his
records have sold more than 1 million copies. In a sequel to his 2002 movie
"State Property," Sigel plays an imprisoned drug dealer. He pleaded guilty to
the gun charge earlier this year. Sigel also must serve two years probation
and pay a $25,000 fine. -
Style guru Martha Stewart reports to jail
Style guru Martha Stewart arrived at a minimum-security prison known as "Camp Cupcake" under cover of early morning darkness on Friday to serve a five-month sentence for lying about a stock sale. Stewart, one of the America's best-known personalities, was subjected to a strip search on arrival and had to squat and cough hard to check for hidden contraband, Federal Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Carla Wilson said. For the next five months, she will be known as prisoner No. 55170-054 and will wear prison-issue khaki trousers, a work shirt and black, steel-capped boots. Stewart, who built and ran the publicly traded company Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc., arrived about eight hours in advance of 2 p.m. -- the time she had to report to the country's oldest federal prison for women. "At approximately 6:15 a.m., Martha Stewart arrived at the Federal Prison Camp, Alderson, West Virginia, for service of her sentence," a Federal Bureau of Prisons statement said. Stewart told her fans through her Web site, "By the time you read this, I will have reported to ... begin serving my five-month sentence." The former chief executive, who vows to make a comeback, was found guilty in March of conspiracy, making false statements and obstruction of justice -- all stemming from her suspicious sale of stock in biotech firm ImClone Systems Inc. on Dec. 27, 2001. Stewart's vehicle sped past a throng of more than 80 reporters, many of whom had camped out overnight awaiting her arrival, and she made no statement before going inside. Stewart, who made millions telling Americans how to bake pies, organize cupboards and tend rose bushes, will now lead a regimented life. She will share a cubicle with another woman -- many inmates of the prison are poor and convicted of drug possession -- and she will not be allowed to conduct any business.