lil wayne's trial
Thread Starter
k three ifers
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 42,568
Likes: 4
From: Buffalo, NY
lil wayne's trial
the trial...
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...YwJ1gD9BFPR180
and the rumor...
http://allhiphop.com/stories/news/ar.../21990913.aspx
nothing on tmz or really legit from what i can see so far. i wouldn't be surprised if it was true though.
Originally Posted by ap
Validity of DNA test argued in Lil Wayne gun case
By JENNIFER PELTZ (AP) – 13 hours ago
NEW YORK — Lil Wayne's gun possession case is putting a leading edge of DNA science under a microscope.
As the Grammy-winning rapper sat in a Manhattan court on Wednesday, a hearing began on a debated, highly sensitive DNA profiling technique used to tie him to a gun found on his tour bus in 2007.
Proponents see the process, sometimes called low copy number DNA profiling, as a powerful tool for closing cases by identifying people from the DNA in just a handful of cells. Skeptics question its reliability.
For Lil Wayne, it could be a crucial piece of a case that carries a minimum 3 1/2-year prison term if he's convicted. He has pleaded not guilty to illegal gun possession charges. The hearing on the scientific status of the DNA technique is expected to extend for days; his trial is due to start Jan. 20.
Prosecutors say small amounts of DNA found on the loaded weapon connect it to the platinum-selling artist. Defense lawyer Stacey Richman says the gun wasn't Lil Wayne's, and the testing technique is too problematic to prove otherwise.
The dreadlocked rapper at times watched attentively through black-rimmed eyeglasses Wednesday as the hearing drilled down on forensic science that operates on a trillionth-of-a-gram scale.
The technique — also known as low-template, high-sensitivity or touch DNA testing — has been credited with helping solve a number of criminal cases, particularly in the United Kingdom.
But it also has come under criticism. U.K. authorities temporarily stopped using it in 2007 after a judge questioned its accuracy and acquitted a suspect in Northern Ireland's deadliest terror attack, a 1998 bombing that killed 29 people in Omagh. Officials ultimately concluded the method was sound and continued using it.
In the U.S., a Queens court has been assessing the technique for more than a year as part of a case against a man accused of killing a woman he had previously been charged with raping.
Methods for testing DNA samples smaller than roughly 16 human cells began emerging in the late 1990s. There are a few strategies; a common one — used in the Lil Wayne case — involves undertaking additional rounds of a molecular copying process used in all DNA analysis to generate enough material to test.
"The only difference is: We make (the test) more sensitive — in other words, turning up the volume," Theresa Caragine, a forensic biologist with the city medical examiners' office, testified Wednesday. The agency triple-checks results to safeguard against anomalies that can crop up during the process.
The technique sometimes can mine IDs from items someone merely touched. Results have been used in criminal courts in at least 10 countries and more than 40 New York City cases, Caragine said.
But some experts say the combination of small samples and more processing is too prone to contamination and murky results to be conclusive — including on the question of how a DNA sample ended up where it was found.
The smaller the sample, the less certain the person actually came into direct contact with the item, rather than touching something else that later touched it, said Dan Krane, a Wright State University molecular biologist and DNA-evidence consultant working on Lil Wayne's defense.
"The weight that can be attributed to the evidence, at the very least, has to go way, way down," he said in an interview.
Police pulled over Lil Wayne's tour bus in Columbus Circle on July 22, 2007, saying they had seen and smelled marijuana smoke wafting out the door before the bus left a concert venue minutes earlier. They said that as an officer approached, the rapper tossed away a Louis Vuitton bag containing the gun.
Richman has disputed officers' basis for searching the bus and noted that more than a dozen other people were aboard.
Lil Wayne, 27, also faces a March trial in Arizona on felony drug possession and weapons charges. He has pleaded not guilty in that case, which arose from a January 2008 arrest at a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint.
The rapper, born Dwayne Carter, won last year's best rap solo performance Grammy for "A Milli." His albums include "Tha Carter," "Tha Carter II" and "Tha Carter III."
By JENNIFER PELTZ (AP) – 13 hours ago
NEW YORK — Lil Wayne's gun possession case is putting a leading edge of DNA science under a microscope.
As the Grammy-winning rapper sat in a Manhattan court on Wednesday, a hearing began on a debated, highly sensitive DNA profiling technique used to tie him to a gun found on his tour bus in 2007.
Proponents see the process, sometimes called low copy number DNA profiling, as a powerful tool for closing cases by identifying people from the DNA in just a handful of cells. Skeptics question its reliability.
For Lil Wayne, it could be a crucial piece of a case that carries a minimum 3 1/2-year prison term if he's convicted. He has pleaded not guilty to illegal gun possession charges. The hearing on the scientific status of the DNA technique is expected to extend for days; his trial is due to start Jan. 20.
Prosecutors say small amounts of DNA found on the loaded weapon connect it to the platinum-selling artist. Defense lawyer Stacey Richman says the gun wasn't Lil Wayne's, and the testing technique is too problematic to prove otherwise.
The dreadlocked rapper at times watched attentively through black-rimmed eyeglasses Wednesday as the hearing drilled down on forensic science that operates on a trillionth-of-a-gram scale.
The technique — also known as low-template, high-sensitivity or touch DNA testing — has been credited with helping solve a number of criminal cases, particularly in the United Kingdom.
But it also has come under criticism. U.K. authorities temporarily stopped using it in 2007 after a judge questioned its accuracy and acquitted a suspect in Northern Ireland's deadliest terror attack, a 1998 bombing that killed 29 people in Omagh. Officials ultimately concluded the method was sound and continued using it.
In the U.S., a Queens court has been assessing the technique for more than a year as part of a case against a man accused of killing a woman he had previously been charged with raping.
Methods for testing DNA samples smaller than roughly 16 human cells began emerging in the late 1990s. There are a few strategies; a common one — used in the Lil Wayne case — involves undertaking additional rounds of a molecular copying process used in all DNA analysis to generate enough material to test.
"The only difference is: We make (the test) more sensitive — in other words, turning up the volume," Theresa Caragine, a forensic biologist with the city medical examiners' office, testified Wednesday. The agency triple-checks results to safeguard against anomalies that can crop up during the process.
The technique sometimes can mine IDs from items someone merely touched. Results have been used in criminal courts in at least 10 countries and more than 40 New York City cases, Caragine said.
But some experts say the combination of small samples and more processing is too prone to contamination and murky results to be conclusive — including on the question of how a DNA sample ended up where it was found.
The smaller the sample, the less certain the person actually came into direct contact with the item, rather than touching something else that later touched it, said Dan Krane, a Wright State University molecular biologist and DNA-evidence consultant working on Lil Wayne's defense.
"The weight that can be attributed to the evidence, at the very least, has to go way, way down," he said in an interview.
Police pulled over Lil Wayne's tour bus in Columbus Circle on July 22, 2007, saying they had seen and smelled marijuana smoke wafting out the door before the bus left a concert venue minutes earlier. They said that as an officer approached, the rapper tossed away a Louis Vuitton bag containing the gun.
Richman has disputed officers' basis for searching the bus and noted that more than a dozen other people were aboard.
Lil Wayne, 27, also faces a March trial in Arizona on felony drug possession and weapons charges. He has pleaded not guilty in that case, which arose from a January 2008 arrest at a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint.
The rapper, born Dwayne Carter, won last year's best rap solo performance Grammy for "A Milli." His albums include "Tha Carter," "Tha Carter II" and "Tha Carter III."
and the rumor...
Originally Posted by allhiphop
Lil Wayne To Plead To 8 Months In Jail, Sources Say
By Houston Williams
Lil Wayne will be forced to plead out to a jail term in New York City on Thursday, according to sources with AllHipHop.com.
The rapper is expected to accept an 8-month bid in jail over his alleged involvement with a loaded .40-caliber pistol gun found on his tour bus in 2007 while in New York.
The 27-year-old now faces 15 years in jail for each count of criminal weapons possession and criminal possession of a loaded weapon.
"Wayne is going to plead guilty," a source close to the case told AllHipHop.com, stressing that this was definitely going to happen. The rapper pleaded not guilty at press time and has yet to make any such public declaration. "The date is coming up and he's going to do it tomorrow."
Wayne is rumored to be willing to accept the deal to avoid a long term in jail over the gun. The same source said the term will begin in February of 2010 under the terms of the deal. "If he doesn't plead, he goes to jail for a long time," the source said.
"They told him that if he doesn't plead tomorrow, it will go to trial and then he faces a far longer jail term," the source continued.
A small amount of DNA may have changed the landscape of the case, according to a report by the Associated Press. There is a "minuscule" amount of the rapper's DNA on the gun, reports say, and that has strengthened the case for the prosecution.
Another hearing is set to resume tomorrow, where the rapper will reportedly announce his next move.
AllHipHop.com was unable to obtain comment from representatives for Wayne at press time and the rapper didn't speak to the media at a court date earlier today.
Lil' Wayne has another trial looming in March over felony drug and weapons charges from a January 2008 police raid.
By Houston Williams
Lil Wayne will be forced to plead out to a jail term in New York City on Thursday, according to sources with AllHipHop.com.
The rapper is expected to accept an 8-month bid in jail over his alleged involvement with a loaded .40-caliber pistol gun found on his tour bus in 2007 while in New York.
The 27-year-old now faces 15 years in jail for each count of criminal weapons possession and criminal possession of a loaded weapon.
"Wayne is going to plead guilty," a source close to the case told AllHipHop.com, stressing that this was definitely going to happen. The rapper pleaded not guilty at press time and has yet to make any such public declaration. "The date is coming up and he's going to do it tomorrow."
Wayne is rumored to be willing to accept the deal to avoid a long term in jail over the gun. The same source said the term will begin in February of 2010 under the terms of the deal. "If he doesn't plead, he goes to jail for a long time," the source said.
"They told him that if he doesn't plead tomorrow, it will go to trial and then he faces a far longer jail term," the source continued.
A small amount of DNA may have changed the landscape of the case, according to a report by the Associated Press. There is a "minuscule" amount of the rapper's DNA on the gun, reports say, and that has strengthened the case for the prosecution.
Another hearing is set to resume tomorrow, where the rapper will reportedly announce his next move.
AllHipHop.com was unable to obtain comment from representatives for Wayne at press time and the rapper didn't speak to the media at a court date earlier today.
Lil' Wayne has another trial looming in March over felony drug and weapons charges from a January 2008 police raid.
nothing on tmz or really legit from what i can see so far. i wouldn't be surprised if it was true though.
CBOTY 2010
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 34,786
Likes: 0
From: MI
i dont see the issue here ...
if its HIS bus then its HIS gun by default no?
i mean if someone finds a gun in my truck and none of the other passengers claim it then its mine by default
i know that a tour bus is way bigger but seems to me the same precedent could be applied, dna or no dna
if its HIS bus then its HIS gun by default no?
i mean if someone finds a gun in my truck and none of the other passengers claim it then its mine by default
i know that a tour bus is way bigger but seems to me the same precedent could be applied, dna or no dna
un-Touch'd krew
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 51,774
Likes: 1
From: My own level of hell
So they don't say why it is criminal possession exactly 
Is he a convicted criminal? I didn't think he was.
Is he a convicted criminal? I didn't think he was.
__________________
"I'll keep my money, guns and freedom. You can keep the "Change."
"I'll keep my money, guns and freedom. You can keep the "Change."
Thread Starter
k three ifers
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 42,568
Likes: 4
From: Buffalo, NY
i dont see the issue here ...
if its HIS bus then its HIS gun by default no?
i mean if someone finds a gun in my truck and none of the other passengers claim it then its mine by default
i know that a tour bus is way bigger but seems to me the same precedent could be applied, dna or no dna
if its HIS bus then its HIS gun by default no?
i mean if someone finds a gun in my truck and none of the other passengers claim it then its mine by default
i know that a tour bus is way bigger but seems to me the same precedent could be applied, dna or no dna
h:
Thread Starter
k three ifers
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 42,568
Likes: 4
From: Buffalo, NY
un-Touch'd krew
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 51,774
Likes: 1
From: My own level of hell
So maybe I am confusing things here a bit.
If they had to go to minute traces of DNA then why all the fuss over it being his gun? If it were his gun the DNA would be simple to get from the gun since he owns it and handles it often...right? Instead they had to bring in some expert who could track DNA down to a molecular level to prove he had handled the weapon at some point.
I really don't see this as being any sort of proof of him having a weapon...handling one at some point yes, but ownership is very arguable.
Personally I think the guy is trash, but this does not negate his rights to fair trial in the least.
If they had to go to minute traces of DNA then why all the fuss over it being his gun? If it were his gun the DNA would be simple to get from the gun since he owns it and handles it often...right? Instead they had to bring in some expert who could track DNA down to a molecular level to prove he had handled the weapon at some point.
I really don't see this as being any sort of proof of him having a weapon...handling one at some point yes, but ownership is very arguable.
Personally I think the guy is trash, but this does not negate his rights to fair trial in the least.
__________________
"I'll keep my money, guns and freedom. You can keep the "Change."
"I'll keep my money, guns and freedom. You can keep the "Change."
Thread Starter
k three ifers
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 42,568
Likes: 4
From: Buffalo, NY