LIL WAYNE’S ATTORNEY WANTS GUN CHARGE DROPPED
LATEST: LIL WAYNE’s lawyer has appealed to a New York judge to dismiss an illegal weapons charge against the rapper after accusing police of conducting a prohibited search of his tour bus during the 2007 incident.
The Lollipop hitmaker, real name Dwayne Carter, was arrested last July (07) after cops found a .40 caliber pistol and marijuana on his tour bus after a show in the Big Apple.
Lil Wayne, who was not charged with drug possession, appeared in court for a pre-trial hearing on Monday (08Sep08) to answer one charge of criminal possession of a weapon.
The officer who made the arrest, Diane Hornung, took to the stand to tell her version of events following the star’s concert at the Beacon Theater in Manhattan.
She testified that she climbed onboard the bus after seeing and smelling marijuana smoke wafting out of the vehicle’s open door when it was pulled over by authorities.
After ordering everyone off the bus, she headed to the back of the vehicle and went into a bathroom, where she witnessed an unidentified man attempting to flush a stash of marijuana down the toilet.
She confiscated the drugs and searched the rest of the vehicle. She told the court it was then that she saw Lil Wayne sitting in the bedroom in his underwear, trying to hide a bag.
As the star went to get changed, Officer Hornung looked inside the bag and found a loaded handgun, reports AllHipHop.com.
But during questioning by the rapper’s lawyer Stacey Richman, Hornung admitted that she hadn’t seen anyone actually smoking pot on the bus.
Richman further accused Hornung of searching the vehicle illegally and boarding the bus without probable cause, urging the judge to drop the charge against her client.
Lil Wayne, who has pleaded not guilty to the charge, is currently free on $70,000 (£37,840) bail. He faces up to four years behind bars if convicted.
Movie & Entertainment News provided by World Entertainment News Network (www.wenn.com)
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