By Shayna Jacobs and Jennifer Glickel
DNAinfo Staff
MANHATTAN — Rapper Ja Rule pleaded guilty Monday to attempted gun possession and now faces two years in prison stemming from a 2007 traffic stop and arrest on the Upper West Side.
Ja Rule, whose real name is Jeffrey Atkins, took the plea in court on Monday in exchange for a reduced sentence from the four years in prison he could have faced if convicted, prosecutors said.
Police had pulled over Atkins' $250,000 Maybach for speeding at West End and 77th Street as he left a concert he played with Lil' Wayne at the Upper West Side’s Beacon Theater. Atkins' chauffeur was driving at the time.
The rapper has pleaded not guilty to criminal possession of a weapon. The car also did not have insurance and a suspended registration.
Police who pulled over the car said they smelled marijuana coming from the vehicle and pulled out the weapon, which had its serial numbers scratched off, according to the criminal complaint.
Atkins’ lawyer has said that the car stop was not justified and has called into question the kind of DNA analysis that has been used in the case, the AP reported.
His road manager, Dennis Cherry, was also charged but did not enter a plea Monday. He was granted an adjournment to Dec. 22.
Rapper Lil’ Wayne was also caught with a loaded gun in his tour bus on that July 2007 evening after police stopped his vehicle when the rapper was leaving the Beacon from the same concert, which Lil’ Wayne had headlined. The rapper, born Dwayne Carter Jr., pleaded guilty to attempted criminal possession of a weapon last year and spent eight months in prison. He was released last month.
