Friday, September 21, 2007

If you want to get away with anything, become a gangsta rapper


I read a story about prisoners once in the book Twice Pardoned that really tore my heart out. This prisoner, later nicknamed “Sheephead” due to the skull injuries from a fight that never healed right, was sent to prison as a young man for the horrific crime of breaking into a store to steal crackers and Pepsi. Authorities gave him a one-year sentence to the Georgia State Penitentiary, which, according to the book is a place where Georgia sent its dangerous criminals and where no rational, first-time offender inmate would want to go. But Sheephead went there anyway. In his first day at GSP, he was raped. He eventually became a homosexual and drug addict while in prison, and a short while before he was to be released, he was coerced into an aborted prison break. The other prisoners backed out, and in a panic Sheephead shot and killed one prison guard and permanently injured another.

He knew his life was over. This prisoner eventually earned a reputation as one of the most feared inmates and eventually died in prison.

Seeing how this young man’s life was ruined really boils my blood, especially when you consider the yet further light sentence Cordozar Calvin Broadus Jr., a.k.a. Snoop Dogg, received after pleading guilty to felony charge of possession of a dangerous weapon.

Broadus (I refuse to call him by his rap name) had initially maintained his innocence. He was sentenced to 160 hours of community service and three years’ probation. Broadus initially had been arrested last year after police discovered a collapsible baton in his bag while at a California airport. He insisted it was a prop for a video he was filming while police said it was a dangerous weapon.

Donald Etra, Broadus’ attorney, said that his client’s felony conviction would be reduced to a misdemeanor if the gangsta rapper can stay out of legal trouble for a year.

That might be asking too much for Broadus, considering that…

…over the years he has made no secret about his marijuana habit. I read somewhere once that Broadus even paid one man to roll his blunts for him…

…this arrest was actually his second that year. He was arrested at the same airport almost two months later for suspicion of transporting marijuana. Authorities also found a gun at his home…

…this last April, Broadus plead no contest to felony gun and marijuana charges and was sentenced to five years probation and 800 hours of community service.

…he also was denied entry into England a year or so ago after his entourage got into a scuffle with authorities there…

…and in 1990, Broadus was convicted of cocaine possession. Then in 1993, he was charged with gun possession after a traffic stop. In 1997, pled guilty and was given three years probation and agreed to make public service announcements against violence…

…Broadus was acquitted in 1996 of a murder charge.

Etra had this amusing thought about his client: “We are very pleased with the outcome,” he told the Associated Press. “[Broadus’] goal is to make music, not make court appearances.”

You’d never know that from his criminal record. Who knows, maybe Broadus simply did all these crimes to develop “street cred.”

Broadus, according to the article, also was ordered to make a $10,000 charitable donation. Let’s see…Broadus strikes me as a smart businessman, so he’s probably worth tens of millions—perhaps more than a hundred million. Why not give him a fine that really puts a dent in his pocketbook?

Better yet, why isn’t he in prison? How many times does he get the luxury of plea bargaining on drug and weapons charges before he’s sent to prison?

This disgusting tale really goes to show that if you have money in America, you can get away with almost anything. What a despicable shame.

Etra added that Broadus wanted to get on with his life. Yeah, so did Sheephead. Only because Sheephead came from a poor Georgia family and wasn’t a gangsta rapper with money, that was a luxury denied to him.

Do I have anything against Broadus? No. I’ve never even met him. And from what I’ve seen of him in Starsky and Hutch, he seems like a decent actor. I just wish he actually had to answer for his crimes instead of consistently getting slapped on the wrist.

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