BUSTA RHYMES TO FACE TRIAL FOR ASSAULT: Judge snatches plea offer that would’ve kept rapper free.
March 27, 2007 by Staff
Filed under Uncategorized
     (Akiit.com) Busta Rhymes is headed for trial on two assault charges after a New York judge decided Monday to take a plea offer off the table.
     The agreement would’ve allowed the rapper to remain free, but Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Tanya Kennedy withdrew the offer because of his recent arrest for driving with a suspended license.
     The abandoned plea offer included probation, community service and a series of lectures to troubled youth. Rhymes’ attorney, Robert Kalina, has said previously that his client had been prepared to accept the deal.
     After the judge withdrew the offer, the 34-year-old MC turned down a follow-up offer by the prosecution of one year in jail for each of two counts of assault — to run concurrently — and a $500 fine for the suspended license charge. Rhymes, whose real name is Trevor Smith, opted for a trial instead. Kennedy tentatively set the trial to begin May 8.
     One of the assault charges stems from a Dec. 26 incident in which Busta is accused of beating his former driver Edward Hatchett, 39, “with a closed fist about the head and neck” and kicking him in the ribs and torso during a dispute over back pay. The attack left Hatchett with cuts, bruises and substantial pain, according to the complaint.
     In the other case, Rhymes is charged with assaulting a fan, allegedly for spitting on the rapper’s car, after an Aug. 12 performance at the AmsterJam Music Festival on Randalls Island.