Kimberly Denise Jones may be headed to the pen...
Lil' Kim Found Guilty
By Clover Hope and Nolan Strong
Date: 3/17/2005 5:00 pm
Rapper Lil Kim was convicted of perjury today when jurors revealed their verdict in a Manhattan court.
The Brooklyn native was declared guilty of lying to a federal grand
jury investigating a 2001 shooting outside of Hot 97, a popular NewYork radio station.
The 30-year-old was acquitted of obstruction charges, but was also found of conspiracy in addition to the perjury charge. Her personal assistant, Monique Dopwell, was found guilty of perjury, obstruction and conspiracy.
When the guilty verdict was read, supporters of Lil' Kim broke out
in tears.
While she has yet to be sentenced, legal insiders expect that Kim
will receive less than five years if she is jailed. She also faces
heavy fines as well, which could soar in the hundreds of thousands.
Daniel Gitner, assistant Manhattan U.S. attorney, charged Tuesday that Lil Kim, whose real name is Kimberly Jones, and Dopwell repeatedly lied about seeing Damion Butler and Suif Jackson, open fire in a 2001 midday shootout involving rappers Foxy Brown and Capone-N-Noreaga.
The shooting took place outside New York's Hot 97 radio station on February 25, 2001. According to Gitner, Butler pulled out a handgun and Jackson pulled a machine gun.
The prosecutor said ballistics evidence would indicate that at least
six guns were fired during the shootout. Both Butler and Jackson
have pleaded guilty to charges related to the shootout. Jackson was sentenced to 12 years as a result of the shooting, while Butler has yet to be sentenced. Both men testified during the trial, as did Capone, Lil' Cease and other music industry figures.
Gitner said the episode quickly escalated into violence after Kim's
rival Foxy Brown ridiculed Kim in a rap song with CNN. After the
incident, Kim and Dopwell reportedly jumped into a limo and fled the scene, Gitner alleged. Kim claimed that she was thrown to the ground and shoved into her limousine, "frightened, scared, and shocked."
A jury took just 2 day to convict the rapper and her assistant
Monique Dopwell of perjury and conspiracy charges.
In 2003, Lil' Kim testified before a grand jury in 2003 claiming
that she had no knowledge of the shooting, which occurred after
Kim's entourage ran into members of rival group Capone-N-Noreaga.
Lil' Kim and Foxy Brown had a minor feud with each other. Brown
issued a scathing dis to Kim on "Bang, Bang," taken from Capone-N-Noreaga's album The Reunion.
As Kim and company were leaving the Hot 97 offices, Capone's
entourage entered and in the resulting fracas, a shootout broke out in which over 30 bullets were brazenly fired.
An associate of Capone-N-Noreaga was shot in the upper back.
In court, Kim portrayed herself as a victim of former manager Damien Butler and Suif Jackson.
Furthermore, Lil' Kim denied purposely lying to the grand jury and
stated that she didn't remember seeing either men firing shots.
Prosecutors produced photographs of Kim standing near Butler on the street shortly before the shooting, as well as a video of several of the shooting suspects piling into Lil' Kim's limo shortly after the shooting.
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