Rapper DMX Enters Not Guilty Plea
AP
Posted: 2008-05-15 19:58:50
PHOENIX (May 15) - DMX has pleaded not guilty to felony drug
possession and misdemeanor animal cruelty charges.
A judge entered the plea for the musician-actor (real name: Earl
Simmons) at a brief court hearing Thursday. Simmons was late for
court.
Bryan Bedder, Getty Images
The Rap Sheet
DMX was arrested in Miami on Friday after approaching an undercover cop to buy some cocaine and marijuana. This comes on the heels of his June 23 arrest after police pulled over his car, whereupon the 'Get at Me Dog' rapper was taken in on an arrest warrant for having no valid driver's license. He was also arrested twice in May and awaits trial on animal cruelty charges.
The 37-year-old rapper was indicted last week on 11 counts,
including felony marijuana and paraphernalia possession and seven
counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty.
The charges stem from an August raid by authorities
investigating if he was neglecting 12 pit bulls at his Phoenix
home. Some were dehydrated and appeared to be underfed. Three were
found buried in his back yard.
The rapper has had previous run-ins with the law. In June 2006,
Scottsdale police cited him for carrying a concealed handgun
outside a nightclub. He also served 70 days in jail in 2005 for
violating his parole following a 2004 incident in which he posed as
an undercover federal agent and crashed his sport utility vehicle
through a security gate at Kennedy International Airport.
DMX recorded the 1999 hit single "Party Up (Up in Here)." His
last album, "Year of the Dog ... Again," was released last year.
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