Lil Wayne headed to jail in March, after he has dental work done.
NEW YORK – Rap star Lil Wayne has gotten a temporary reprieve from jail — for dental surgery.
The Grammy Award-winning rapper’s sentencing in a New York City gun case was postponed Tuesday, because he needs to finish a string of recent surgeries before he goes to jail.
Lil Wayne, one of music’s biggest sellers and rap’s hottest stars, is poised to spend as much as a year in jail under a plea deal, though good behavior could shave that to as little as eight months.
Sentencing now is scheduled for March 2. Manhattan state Supreme Court Justice Charles Solomon said it wouldn’t be put off any further.
His plea deal calls for him to serve his sentence not in state prison but in the city jail system, where rapper Foxy Brown spent about eight months in 2007 and 2008 for a probation violation involving a fight she had with manicurists in a nail salon.
City Department of Correction spokesman Stephen Morello wouldn’t discuss any arrangements being made to house Lil Wayne among the roughly 13,500 inmates in the massive Rikers Island complex and other jails. Most inmates are awaiting trial.
Defense lawyer Stacey Richman said Lil Wayne was headed home to Miami for dental work Friday. She declined to specify his malady.
"It is a medical situation that, like (it would for) any of us, has to be addressed," she said outside court. She said the rapper had planned to take care of it before Tuesday, but his dentist had been out of the country doing charitable work.
Lil Wayne, 27, pleaded guilty in October to attempted criminal possession of a weapon, admitting he illegally had a loaded .40-caliber semiautomatic gun on his tour bus in July 2007. Police found the weapon when they stopped the bus after a Manhattan concert.
A rapper since he was a teenager, Lil Wayne, born Dwayne Carter, became known for his voluminous output and collaborations with other artists.
His career has hit a peak in the last two years. His Tha Carter III led 2008 album sales with 2.8 million copies sold.
Copyright 2010 Associated Press
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