Rapper/actor DMX has sang about getting in trouble with the law on his albums, but his real-life exploits could be earning him some time in jail.
The charges stem from an incident in June 2004, when DMX was arrested at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport for stealing a car, driving it through an airport fence and then allegedly claiming to be an undercover Federal Agent. During an initial court appearance, it was said that he was high on valium at the time. Several months later, on December 8, he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of reckless-endangerment and was sentenced to a conditional discharge, that required the rapper to stay out of trouble with the law for at least a year.
But as the thug life seems to do, DMX landed in more hot water with authorities with two separate driving-related incidents.
Two weeks after the hearing on the JFK incident, the rapper was caught doing 104mph in a 65mph speed zone near his home in New York. In April, he caused an three car collision that included an unmarked police car.
After missing a court date last month on the charges and the discharge violation, DMX, 34, finally showed up in Queens Criminal Court yesterday (October 25), and plead guilty to two counts of driving with a suspended license. Judge Dorothy Chin-Brandt then ordered him to show up November 17 for his sentencing hearing.
Though the two offenses, coupled with the violation of the conditional discharge, are punishable by 60 days in jail at Riker's Island, a plea agreement hammered out by DMX's lawyer will probably reduce the sentence to 40 days.
Had he plead not innocent and gone to a jury trial, the rapper would have faced up to a year in prison, instead.
DMX is signed to Def Jam records, which was scheduled to release his last cd, "Here We Go Again," on October 11, 2005, before it was shelved indefinitely. He has also acted in several movies, including Cradle 2 the Grave, Never Die Alone, and Exit Wounds.
