Sentence (3)

looks like our Nigerian Rappers are very well behaved citizens in a Country of lawlessness go figure who was last in jail ? MI , Ikechukwu ? ? ?
Rapper Ja Rule is headed to prison for two years after pleading guilty Monday to driving with a loaded gun after a 2007 concert.

"This isn't a good day, fellas," the one-time Grammy nominee said grimly as he left Manhattan Supreme Court.

The plea to attempted weapon possession in the second degree, a violent felony, came just before his trial was scheduled to start.

Ja Rule, 34, whose real name is Jeffrey Atkins, was busted with a loaded .40-caliber Taurus pistol inside his Maybach as he and two pals left the Beacon Theater on the upper West Side following a Lil Wayne & Friends concert in July 2007.

Lil Wayne, real name Dwayne Carter, was also arrested for gun possession that night. He took the same plea as Ja Rule but received only one year in jail. He was released from Rikers recently after an eight-month stint.

Ja Rule, wearing jeans and a black sweater, spoke in a low voice as he answered the judge's questions. He will get a similar prison time to the one accepted by Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress, who shot himself in the leg inside a night club.

Ja Rule faced 3 1/2 to 15 years in prison had he been convicted for the top charge in trial.

Ja Rule's road manager, Dennis Cherry, is expected to cop a no-jail plea by the end of the month, a source said. The other man who was arrested in the rapper's car, driver Mohamed Gamal, has died of cancer.

The Queens-born rapper, whose last album came out in 2005, is due back in court Feb. 9 to schedule a sentencing date. Justice Richard Carruthers instructed him to make his next court appearance and stay out of trouble until he's sent Upstate for two years to be followed by a year and a half of post-release supervision.

"If you fulfill all of these conditions, I will sentence you as I have indicated," the judge told him.
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Aimee Michael
(pictured left), for the most part, seems to be a lot like the rest of us. She's a 24-year-old black femalecollege graduate with two parents who love her. Her parents have beenmarried for 28 years, and her mother is a 52-year-old former schoolteacher. On Easter Sunday in 2009, though, Aimee found herself facing upto 50 years in prison. While she didn't get the entire 50 years, she did get 36 of them.

Aimee Michael was the cause of a massive car accident in Atlanta, achain reaction that caused the deaths of five people, including anewborn baby, a 6-year-old and a 9-year-old. After being sideswiped byanother car, Michael's BMW hit another car, causing it to collidehead-on with another vehicle. Michael is going to prison, because aftercausing this terrible accident, she fled the scene and tried to cover upthe evidence.

Aimee Michael's mother, Sheila (pictured right), wasgiven eight years in prison for her role in the cover up. This has leftthe Michael family devastated, but not nearly as much as the families ofthe victims.

"I want to say that I am wrong. I have wronged three families and for that I am sorry," Michael said in court.

Michael was arrested two weeks after the accident, when neighbors calledthe police. She was found guilty on five counts of vehicular homicide,six counts of hit and run and several misdemeanors.

The judge was actually brought to tears and said she prayed about thedecision before rendering the sentence. The deciding factor in the crashwas the fact that Michael left the scene of the accident. She alsoexpressed disappointment in Michael's mother for not turning herdaughter in to the police.

When it comes to the sentencing of Aimee Michael, I'm going to have tokeep it real: Based on what I've read about Aimee and her family, it appears that much of this could have happened to any of us.While most of us would not have left the scene of the accident, I can'thelp but imagine Aimee as a frightened 24-year-old young adult who didsomething incredibly stupid.

Also, while we can easily criticize Aimee's mother for protecting herdaughter, I am willing to bet that at least half the people reading thisarticle may at least consider doing the same thing if it meant keepingtheir child from prison. This does not, in any way, condone Aimee'sactions (or those of her mother), but it does highlight the difficultyof the decisions that this family had to make.

Aimee's attorney made a very good point. She said that we shouldconsider what the sentence would have been had Aimee not left the scene:

"What Sheila Michael did was driven by fear and attempt to protect her child," said Renee Rockwell,Aimee's attorney. "It was the worst move she could have made. If AimeeMichael had gone back to the scene, we would be talking about six to 12months at most."

Personally, I see the accident as the thing that it was: an accident.She was side-swiped and hit another car. Given that's the case, I am notsure if a long prison sentence would be appropriate. But one thing thatmust be considered is that Aimee Michael has been cited numerous timesfor driving too fast. In the state of Pennsylvania, she received severalspeeding tickets within a very short amount of time. She is also knownto be someone who regularly smokes marijuana and there was even a"marijuana cigar" found in the car during the police investigation. Thisinformation tells us clearly that Aimee, like many young people acrossAmerica is both reckless and inconsiderate in her personal choices. Inspite of her shameful behavior, I can't help but feel that 36-years inprison is simply too long of a sentence.

On a secondary note, there is no doubt in my mind that Aimee Michael andher mother deserve to go to prison. My heart dropped to the ground whenreading about the three young children killed in this accident. I alsomourn for the families of all of the victims. This story serves as acautionary tale to all of the kids across America who think it's cute orcool to speed down the highway or to get involved in drugs. You mightthink you're having harmless fun, but you could end up ruining the livesof yourself, strangers and people you care about. When Aimee Michaelshowed up to her mother's house after getting involved in this accident,she instantly destroyed her family. Should it be the case that she wasdriving irresponsibly, the guilt of this experience will be with herforever.

The fact that Aimee and her mother were so selfish as to ignore thesuffering of these families by attempting to hide their involvement issimply sickening. With that said, I will also say that 5 - 10 years inprison for Aimee might have been a more reasonable sentence. I don'tagree with 36 years in prison, and I sincerely doubt she would havegotten this much time if she were Paris Hilton or someone from an affluent Georgia family.

On that note, this is an incredibly painful story to read, and I wishthe families the best. The sadness of this tragedy resonates through allof our psyches, and we can learn quite a few lessons about vehiclesafety and doing the right thing. When you get behind the wheel, pleasebe careful. Driving is an important responsibility.

By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Nov 4th 2010 9:41PM

Extracted from Blackvoices.com

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From Lemmy Ughegbe, AbujaIT was a sad end for an Ibadan-based panel beater, Mr. Emmanuel Olabode yesterday as the Supreme Court affirmed his death sentence for burning an apprentice, Kehinde Omotanwa to death about eight years ago.The Court of Appeal, Ibadan Division had on March 26, 2007 upheld the decision of an Oyo State High Court, which sentenced Olabode to death by hanging.In his bid to escape the hangman's noose, Olabode approached the apex court, praying it to upturn his conviction and the consequent death penalty passed on him.But in a unanimous decision of the five-man panel, the court held that the appeal lacked merit and accordingly dismissed it.In the lead judgment prepared by Justice Pius Aderemi, he espoused the facts of the case thus: "On the 18th of March, 2001, at the deceased's workshop at New Garage Area, Orita Challenge, Ibadan, Oyo State, where he (deceased) was an apprentice mechanic under one Adeleke Balogun, who testified as prosecution witness 1, the accused, a panel beater, poured petrol on the deceased and set him ablaze."Consequently, the deceased sustained severe burns all over his body. On seeing that the deceased was burning, the accused hastily left the scene of the incident and went to hide himself somewhere unknown."The deceased was taken to Adeoyo State Hospital, Ibadan where he was admitted for medical treatment."At a point in time after the incident, the accused surfaced in the hospital to see the deceased on admission for treatment. There, he undertook, in writing, to be responsible for the medical bill of the deceased, the written undertaking was tendered in the course of the proceedings."However the deceased died after 14 days thereafter."Justice Aderemi recounted further that after the demise of Omotanwa, the accused was charged for murder contrary to and punishable under section 319 (1) of the Criminal Code, Cap 30, Volume 11, Laws of Oyo State of Nigeria, 1978.He pleaded not guilty to the charge. But after taking evidence from eyewitnesses, the High Court convicted him and sentenced him to death by hanging. He appealed to the Court of Appeal, Ibadan but lost.Olabode finally appealed to the Supreme Court, which he told that the charge was not well explained to him at the trial stage.On that issue, Justice Aderemi said: "I have had a careful reading of the whole record of proceedings. I also find nothing suggesting that the accused did not understand the charge when read and explained to him."In fact, there is on record that the accused was educated up to the school certificate level."In conclusion, for all I have said, this appeal in my judgment is unmeritorious. It must be dismissed and it is accordingly dismissed. The judgment of the court below affirming the conviction and the sentence passed on the appellant by the trial court is also affirmed here
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