NEW YORK (AP) — After saying goodbye on concert stages and online video streams, Lil Wayne had nothing to add as he was sentenced Monday to a year in jail for having a loaded gun on his tour bus.
The Grammy Award-winning rapper delivered only a brief bow to fans and supporters as he was led out of a courtroom in handcuffs to start serving his sentence.
With that, Lil Wayne headed off to face his punishment in a case that had shadowed him as he became one of music’s most prolific and profitable figures in recent years. Arrested in July 2007, he pleaded guilty in October to attempted criminal possession of a weapon. He admitted he had the loaded .40-caliber semiautomatic gun on his bus.
His lawyer, Stacey Richman, said the rapper was resolute as he was taken away.
“He knew what he had to do, and he’s doing it,” she said.
Lil Wayne will serve his sentence in the Rikers Island jail complex. Richman said she expected he would be held in protective custody, but the city Correction Department said it was still deciding on that. Protective custody is given to inmates who, for a variety of reasons including notoriety, require separation from the general prison population.
The 27-year-old rap star could be released in about eight months with good behavior.
