Last fall, this blog covered the legal troubles of rapper T.I, who is from the Atlanta, Georgia, area. The 30-year-old rapper was convicted of federal weapons charges in 2009, but was allowed to served a fraction of the five-year maximum prison sentence if he paid a fine and did community service while on house arrest. Also a part of the deal was that he had to stay out of trouble through his probation.
In September 2010, however, T.I. was pulled over by law enforcement and found to be driving while in possession of ecstasy and with opiates in his system. It was reported at the time that he may have been driving with a cup holding prescription-codeine cough syrup mixed with soda. His wife was with him in the car and a convicted felon was also riding with him. T.I. was found guilty of violating the terms of his probation and sent to prison to serve 11 more months.
The judge refused to be lenient after T.I. violated his probation because he had given T.I. a second chance by allowing him to participate in the experimental alternative sentence. T.I.’s attorney had tried to show that T.I. suffered from substance-abuse problems and had fallen off the wagon after having had several root canals and being prescribed powerful painkillers.
T.I.’s attorney had also pointed out that T.I. had saved an Atlanta man from jumping off a building to his death by rushing to the scene and talking the man out of it, but some saw the event as a stunt.
T.I. was released one month early from federal prison in Arkansas so that he could finish the last month of his sentence in Georgia, but he violated his probation by taking a luxury rap tour bus from prison to the halfway house. T.I. said no alcohol or drugs were used on the bus, and his attorney is trying to negotiate his release to the halfway house.
Source: The Associated Press, “Rapper T.I. returned to federal prison in Atlanta,” Greg Bluestein, Sept. 3, 2011