Ja Rule to Serve Two Years in Jail for Gun Possession Charge

An article posted on nydailynews.com discusses Rap artist Ja Rule pleading guilty to a attempted weapons possession charge. The weapon was found during a stop and search that occurred after a 2007 concert, the search turned up a loaded pistol and a small amount of marijuana, but the drugs were not charged to the Rap artist because his lawyer argued that the search of the vehicle was illegal. During the same night, Rap artist Lil Wayne was arrested for gun possession and he was recently released from prison. Ja Rule is one of the most successful Rap artists in recent memory because of tracks that he recorded with Jennifer Lopez and Lil Mo. Ja Rule has sold millions of records, this shows that fame will not always get you a great deal on any charges that you may face. Any fan of Ja Rule knows that he has a long history of problems with Rap artist 50 Cent and 50 has been in the news for upcoming court cases also.

Ja Rule AKA Jeffrey Atkins originally faced up to fifteen years for the charge if he were convicted at trial. However, Atkins has decided to plead guilty to the gun possession charges and he will serve two years in prison as a result. It is expected that Ja Rule will return to court in February in order to receive sentencing on this case. He will also serve one and a half years of supervision once he has served the two year sentence, this is under the assumption that Atkins is able to stay out of trouble until the sentencing approaches. In the event that he gets into additional legal trouble, this would likely cause the judge to expand the punishment in order to make an example of the Rap artist. There is a lot of talk about the benefits of being a celebrity and the feeling that lighter sentences come with the fame. However, the two year sentence that Ja Rule will serve as a result of this case is an example to show that there is very little preferential treatment shown to celebrities. It is likely that if he were not a celebrity, he would have never had his vehicle stopped in the first place. Celebrities would argue that both Lil Wayne and Ja Rule were stopped as a result of their fame. If this is true, these cases show the downside of being famous.