HOLLYWOOD - Rapper Lil' Kim was sentenced Wednesday to one year and a day in prison as well as a $50,000 fine for lying to a federal grand jury to protect her friends involved in a 2001 shootout outside of a Manhattan radio station.Lil' Kim, whose real name is Kimberley Jones, escaped the 20-year maximum she could have gotten--and the three-year sentence the prosecutors had sought. She was convicted of the charges in March.
Before being sentenced, Lil' Kim--the first big-name female artist to be incarcerated--made a plea for leniency and asked the judge to weigh more than just the one event.
"I have worked hard my entire life for everything I have, everything I have accomplished," Lil' Kim, 29, said. "I ask you to consider my entire life's work and not just the days in the grand jury and on the witness stand in the courtroom. I'm a God-fearing, good person."
Reuters reports U.S. District Judge Gerard Lynch considered the public perception of sending a young black entertainer to prison far longer than Martha Stewart, who spent five months in prison and remains under house arrest.
Lil' Kim is to report to prison by Sept. 19. Her lawyers are hoping she will be sent to the prison in Danbury, Conn., so the rapper can be close to her mother.
The initial gunfight happened outside of WQHT-FM, known as Hot 97, when Lil' Kim's entourage crossed paths with rival group Capone-N-Noreaga, who previously recorded a song where Kim was insulted.
Lil' Kim was known as the sidekick as well as mistress of the late Notorious B.I.G. As a solo artist, she has won a Grammy for her part in the remake of "Lady Marmalade."