Lil Wayne Sentencing Postponed Due to Court Fire
Lil Wayne was ready Tuesday to go to jail, but his court date went up in smoke
While the rap star was heading to his sentencing after pleading guilty in a 2007 gun case, a fire shut down the courthouse and postponed the already-delayed proceeding.
Having braced to start up to a year behind bars, he was unhappy about the postponement, said his lawyer, Stacey Richman.
"Once you make up your mind to do something, you want to do it," she said.
The sentencing may be rescheduled for Wednesday, though court officials were still scrambling to determine Tuesday afternoon when Manhattan's main criminal courthouse could reopen after the smoky basement blaze. It left eight people with minor injuries and forced about 1,000 to flee the building.
The Grammy Award-winning rapper is expected to get a yearlong jail term after pleading guilty in October to attempted criminal possession of a weapon. He admitted having a loaded gun on his tour bus when it was stopped after a Manhattan show in July 2007.
If he's back in court Wednesday, he could cross paths with fellow platinum-selling rapper Ja Rule, arrested separately on a gun-possession charge after playing the same concert. Ja Rule, known to the court as Jeff Atkins, happens to have a court date Wednesday; he has pleaded not guilty.
Lil Wayne, 27, was initially due to be sentenced and start his term last month, but the date was pushed back so he could have surgery on his gemstone-encrusted teeth.
He had bid a drawn-out adieu to friends and fellow artists, including a Rolling Stone cover story last month and a video blitz this past weekend. He said in a video clip sent Monday to MTV News that he shot footage for seven music videos with various artists in one night over the weekend.
Lil Wayne, born Dwayne Carter, has been one of the genre's most prolific, ubiquitous and profitable figures in recent years. His "Tha Carter III" was the best-selling album of 2008.
