[CrimsonTide4]

Way Cleared for Bronx Rapper's Release
Mon Nov 3,10:56 PM ET

By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK - A judge has cleared the way for the release of rapper Ricky "Slick Rick" Walters, ruling the government erred in imprisoning him in an immigration case.



Federal Judge Kimba Wood said the Board of Immigration Appeals should never have reversed its earlier decision that the British-born rapper is a legal U.S. resident. Walters has been jailed 17 months in Bradenton, Fla.


It was unclear just when the Hip-Hop Hall of Famer would be freed. A spokesman for U.S. Attorney James B. Comey said the civil arm of the prosecutor's office could not immediately comment on the case.


"I honestly expected him released today. Right now, I would hope it can happen tomorrow," the rapper's attorney, Alex Solomiany, said Monday.


He added that Walters, 38, was "very happy and looking forward to getting released."


The judge's decision was sent to lawyers in the case Friday and recorded in Manhattan federal court on Monday.


U.S. immigration authorities tried to deport Walters using a 1996 law permitting deportation of foreigners convicted of felonies involving violence. Walters was born in London; his family moved to the Bronx when he was 11.


Walters served five years in the 1990s for attempted murder after he shot his cousin and a bystander, saying the cousin had extorted money and threatened to kill his family.


The immigration board reversed itself after agreeing that the government had new evidence and that the case should be reopened. In her decision, Wood said the evidence was actually old.


The rapper was detained in June 2002 as he returned to Florida after a weeklong gig aboard a cruise ship. Only after the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001, and the subsequent crackdown on aliens was Walters detained, noted his publicist, Bill Adler.


As the months have passed with Walters in prison, supporters including comedian Chris Rock (news), actor Will Smith (news) and the Rev. Jesse Jackson (news - web sites) have become more outspoken.


Adler said Walters will return to the Bronx, where he owns a pair of apartment buildings and lives with his wife and two children, to continue a career that includes his solo platinum album, "The Great Adventures of Slick Rick."