J-State Tiger
Senate Candidate #7
Puffy protege sentenced to 10 years in prison
By Harriet Ryan
Court TV
NEW YORK ?After giving a tearful, but tempered apology to his victims, rapper Jamal "Shyne" Barrow, a protege of Sean "Puffy" Combs, was sentenced to 10 years in prison Friday for his role in a 1999 nightclub shooting involving the rap mogul's entourage.
Barrow, convicted by the same jury that acquitted Combs and his bodyguard, could have faced as many as 32 years behind bars on assault and weapons charges. Under state law, he must serve a minimum of 8 1/2 years.
The 22-year-old, stoic throughout the high-profile nine-week trial this spring, was uncharacteristically emotional during the two-hour sentencing, crying and at times seeming to shake with fear.
As officers escorted him from court at the end of the sentencing, he held a Bible in his hand-cuffed hands and looked wan, nothing like the gold-toothed street tough on the cover of his hit record.
"Love you, Mom," he shouted to his mother, Frances Franklin.
"Love you, Shyne," Franklin and other supporters who packed the courtroom shouted back.
The sentencing is not the final chapter in the case. Barrow plans to file an appeal, and Combs has said he will pay his legal fees.
A Manhattan jury found in March that Barrow had fired into a crowd at Club New York, a Times Square hot spot, on Dec. 27, 1999, striking one patron in the face, another in the shoulder and third in the arm. Barrow was at the club in the company of Combs and Jennifer Lopez, Combs' then-girlfriend. The prosecution argued that Barrow was trying to kill a patron who insulted Combs.
Barrow said he acted in self-defense that night and fired only after others began shooting. He continued to make that claim in court on Friday as he addressed one of his victims, Natania Reuben.
"Ms. Reuben, I'm sorry that you hurt. I'm sorry that you suffered," Barrow told the mother of two who was seated in the front row. He quickly added, "I never meant to hurt nobody. I was afraid for my life...I still maintain it wasn't my gun [that caused the injuries.]"
He quoted the 23rd Psalm and told Judge Charles Solomon, "I beg the court for mercy not to waste my life."
Before Barrow spoke, Reuben urged Solomon to hand down a long sentence. She described the lingering effects of being shot in the face. She said seven fragments remain in her head and she suffers from seizures, severe depression and hair loss because of her injuries.
"I never know if a bullet fragment is going to move and kill me or if I'll be poisoned by lead in my head," she said. "Did you know what it is like to never feel safe?"
Reuben also attacked the kind of "gangsta rap" Barrow performs, saying she felt that "raunchy lyrics that tell our children to bust their guns in the air" were equivalent of giving children "spoons of arsenic."
"It takes a real man to write a song that sends a message that is socially redemptive," she said.
Prosecutor Matthew Bogdanos also harped on Barrow's violent lyrics, including a track called "Let Me See Your Hands" in which Barrow raps about hanging out with Combs "guncockin' and poppin, somebody call Cochran." Johnnie Cochran was part of Combs' defense team.
"Mr. Barrow has chosen the way of the gun without regard to innocent victims because it was a lifestyle he admired," said the prosecutor. He charged that Barrow was benefiting from his notoriety in the rap world, "The shooting has made him a name."
Barrow's defense attorney, Diarmuid White, said his client was not a thug, but a man with "solid, moral values." White admitted Barrow used violent imagery and profanities, but said his client was only trying to reach a "disenfranchised" community to encourage young black men "to rise up from the ghetto mentality of hopelessness."
The message is anti-violence, White claimed. The lawyer also compared his client's rhymes to the poetry of Allen Ginsberg, even reading part of the Beat writer's poem "America" to drive his point home.
"Don't take his youth away," implored White.
Solomon said determining a fair sentence for Barrow, who he described as "a young man with a promising future," was among the toughest tasks of his career.
"I've agonized over this for months," said the judge, who received hundreds of letters urging a lenient sentence from the rapper's fans. "It's a tragedy all around."
When the judge pronounced Barrow's 10-year sentence, Reuben cried out, "Thank you, Jesus!"
By Harriet Ryan
Court TV
NEW YORK ?After giving a tearful, but tempered apology to his victims, rapper Jamal "Shyne" Barrow, a protege of Sean "Puffy" Combs, was sentenced to 10 years in prison Friday for his role in a 1999 nightclub shooting involving the rap mogul's entourage.
Barrow, convicted by the same jury that acquitted Combs and his bodyguard, could have faced as many as 32 years behind bars on assault and weapons charges. Under state law, he must serve a minimum of 8 1/2 years.
The 22-year-old, stoic throughout the high-profile nine-week trial this spring, was uncharacteristically emotional during the two-hour sentencing, crying and at times seeming to shake with fear.
As officers escorted him from court at the end of the sentencing, he held a Bible in his hand-cuffed hands and looked wan, nothing like the gold-toothed street tough on the cover of his hit record.
"Love you, Mom," he shouted to his mother, Frances Franklin.
"Love you, Shyne," Franklin and other supporters who packed the courtroom shouted back.
The sentencing is not the final chapter in the case. Barrow plans to file an appeal, and Combs has said he will pay his legal fees.
A Manhattan jury found in March that Barrow had fired into a crowd at Club New York, a Times Square hot spot, on Dec. 27, 1999, striking one patron in the face, another in the shoulder and third in the arm. Barrow was at the club in the company of Combs and Jennifer Lopez, Combs' then-girlfriend. The prosecution argued that Barrow was trying to kill a patron who insulted Combs.
Barrow said he acted in self-defense that night and fired only after others began shooting. He continued to make that claim in court on Friday as he addressed one of his victims, Natania Reuben.
"Ms. Reuben, I'm sorry that you hurt. I'm sorry that you suffered," Barrow told the mother of two who was seated in the front row. He quickly added, "I never meant to hurt nobody. I was afraid for my life...I still maintain it wasn't my gun [that caused the injuries.]"
He quoted the 23rd Psalm and told Judge Charles Solomon, "I beg the court for mercy not to waste my life."
Before Barrow spoke, Reuben urged Solomon to hand down a long sentence. She described the lingering effects of being shot in the face. She said seven fragments remain in her head and she suffers from seizures, severe depression and hair loss because of her injuries.
"I never know if a bullet fragment is going to move and kill me or if I'll be poisoned by lead in my head," she said. "Did you know what it is like to never feel safe?"
Reuben also attacked the kind of "gangsta rap" Barrow performs, saying she felt that "raunchy lyrics that tell our children to bust their guns in the air" were equivalent of giving children "spoons of arsenic."
"It takes a real man to write a song that sends a message that is socially redemptive," she said.
Prosecutor Matthew Bogdanos also harped on Barrow's violent lyrics, including a track called "Let Me See Your Hands" in which Barrow raps about hanging out with Combs "guncockin' and poppin, somebody call Cochran." Johnnie Cochran was part of Combs' defense team.
"Mr. Barrow has chosen the way of the gun without regard to innocent victims because it was a lifestyle he admired," said the prosecutor. He charged that Barrow was benefiting from his notoriety in the rap world, "The shooting has made him a name."
Barrow's defense attorney, Diarmuid White, said his client was not a thug, but a man with "solid, moral values." White admitted Barrow used violent imagery and profanities, but said his client was only trying to reach a "disenfranchised" community to encourage young black men "to rise up from the ghetto mentality of hopelessness."
The message is anti-violence, White claimed. The lawyer also compared his client's rhymes to the poetry of Allen Ginsberg, even reading part of the Beat writer's poem "America" to drive his point home.
"Don't take his youth away," implored White.
Solomon said determining a fair sentence for Barrow, who he described as "a young man with a promising future," was among the toughest tasks of his career.
"I've agonized over this for months," said the judge, who received hundreds of letters urging a lenient sentence from the rapper's fans. "It's a tragedy all around."
When the judge pronounced Barrow's 10-year sentence, Reuben cried out, "Thank you, Jesus!"
