Beanie Arrested . . . Again
Even in court, trouble finds Beanie Sigel. The rapper showed up in
a Philadelphia courtroom on July 9th for a hearing on an assault
case and was arrested by federal authorities for an unrelated
illegal weapons charge. The new charge stems from an April 20th
arrest when the rapper (a.k.a. Dwight Grant) was accused of
throwing a handgun from his car after he was pulled over by police.
Sigel, 29, was initially charged with illegal possession of a
firearm, but this week that charge drew additional heat, as federal
authorities claim it violated his probation from a 1995
drug-trafficking charge.
Were those numerous legal tangles not sufficient, Sigel was also
arrested last week and charged with attempted murder for a July 1st
shooting outside a Philadelphia nightclub. He is expected in court
for a preliminary hearing on those charges later this month.
Perhaps the only silver lining thus far for Sigel was that his
attorney was able to get the aggravated assault charge (from a
January skirmish) reduced to simple assault, a misdemeanor. But no
sooner had the rapper won that small victory than Bureau of Alcohol
Tobacco and Firearms agents handcuffed him and brought him before a
federal judge to answer to his probation violation. Chief U.S.
Magistrate Judge James R. Melinson agreed to the prosecutor’s
request that Sigel be held without bail until a hearing on July
14th.
Sigel’s legal tangles will continue to interfere with his
participation in Jay-Z’s Roc the Mic tour, which travels to
Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, tonight, and might begin to halt his
promotion for the second album by his State Property collective,
due next month.