April 23, 2001 12:22

ODB PLEADS GUILTY TO DRUGS CHARGE

The Wu-Tang Clan rapper admits possession of 20 vials of crack cocaine...

WU TANG CLAN's errant rapper OL' DIRTY BASTARD pleaded guilty last week to a drug charge stemming from an arrest in 1999 in the QUEENS district of NEW YORK.

ODB, real name Russell Jones, admitted possession of 20 vials of crack cocaine during Thursday's (April 19) hearing at Queens County Court, according to mtv.com. In return for the guilty plea he will not now face a full trial and prosecutors will pursue only the minimum penalty for the crime at sentencing on June 13. The charge had carried a maximum sentence of seven years inside. Police found the crack when they stopped the rapper's car on July 31, 1999. Charges of marijuana possession and driving without a licence have been dropped in return for the guilty plea. A related bail-jumping charge has also seen the rapper come out on top.

The bail-jumping charges stem from ODB's failure to appear in court after escaping from a Los Angeles rehab clinic last October. They would have meant a term of between 18 months to three years to run consecutively with any sentence he would have received had the case gone to trial.

However, in a deal struck between his lawyer and prosecutors in Los Angeles, whatever sentence ODB would have got if found guilty of the probation violation will run concurrently with the time served in New York - effectively wiping the jail-time for the charge.

The deal would also allow the rapper to enter his guilty plea in writing, rather than appearing before the court.

Finally, ODB is set to return to court, again in Queens, on May 7. He'll face accusations of sexual abuse made by a woman who says he assaulted her in a Queens hotel room in January 2000 after a court appearance.

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