Monday, August 8, 2005

D.A. BROWN: RAPPER DMX CHARGED WITH VIOLATING TERMS OF CONDITIONAL RELEASE FOLLOWING SENTENCING IN 2004 JFK AIRPORT INCIDENT; FACES UP TO ONE YEAR IN JAIL

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown today announced that rapper and actor DMX has been charged with violating the conditions of his release following the sentence imposed on him for a June 2004 John F. Kennedy International Airport parking lot gate crash incident. The alleged violation stems from two motor vehicle incidents in which the defendant was involved following his sentencing last year.

According to District Attorney Brown, in a December 8, 2004, proceeding in Queens Criminal Court before Acting Supreme Court Justice Dorothy Chin-Brandt, DMX -- whose real name is Earl Simmons -- pled guilty to Reckless Endangerment in the Second Degree and Operating a Motor Vehicle While Under the Influence of Alcohol or Drugs and admitted that he drove a vehicle recklessly while under the influence of Valium.

Justice Chin-Brandt then sentenced Simmons to a conditional discharge, imposed a $1,000 fine and directed that he forfeit his personalized 1998 Ford Expedition SUV valued at $13,200, in which a police-style emergency response flashing light and siren package valued at an additional $2,500 had been installed.

“In admitting his guilt and acknowledging that while under the influence of drugs he recklessly engaged in conduct which created a substantial risk of serious physical injury to others, it was my hope that the defendant learned that he, too, had a responsibility to obey the law, and that the lesson, perhaps might encourage himself to act responsibly and lawfully in the future,” said District Attorney Brown. “It is now obvious that the lesson was lost on the defendant. His subsequent actions not only exhibit contempt for the legal system but recklessly endangered the public as well. The lesson the defendant should now learn is that everyone must be held accountable for their actions and that being a celebrity does not put one above the law.”

District Attorney Brown said Simmons, 34, of 142 McLein Street in Mount Kisco, New York, appeared today at a hearing before Justice Chin-Brandt. According to the papers filed by prosecutors, one week after being sentenced on December 8, 2004, for the JFK incident, Simmons was charged with driving a vehicle at 104 miles per hour on Route 684 in Westchester County. Four months later, on April 15, 2005, Simmons was driving a vehicle that was involved in an accident on the Major Deegan Expressway in the Bronx with two other vehicles, one of which was an unmarked police car. In each incident, it is alleged that his driver’s license had either been suspended or revoked.

Justice Chin-Brandt, in stating that Simmons’ violation of the condition discharge was “a serious matter,” set bail at $500 cash. The case was adjourned to October 11, 2005. Simmons faces up to one year in jail.

District Attorney Brown said that, according to the criminal charges filed in the earlier case, at 8:10 p.m. on June 24, 2004, Simmons, while operating a black 1998 Ford Expedition at Parking Lot Green outside Terminals One, Two and Three at John F. Kennedy International Airport, crashed through the parking lot exit gate after telling the attendant to let him leave the lot because he was a federal agent. Immediately upon exiting the parking lot, the defendants were apprehended by Port Authority of New York and New Jersey police officers.

District Attorney Brown said that, according to the criminal charges, Simmons was additionally alleged to have ordered the driver of another vehicle inside an adjacent parking lot to get out of his vehicle after Simmons grabbed the driver’s seat belt buckle and attempted to pull him from the vehicle, stating that he was an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The District Attorney said that a police search resulted in the recovery from the vehicle of numerous Valium and Percocet tablets.

Assistant District Attorney Christina Hanophy, Chief Counter-Terrorism and Airport Investigations Unit in the District Attorney’s Organized Crime and Rackets Bureau is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Gerard A. Brave, Bureau Chief, and Marc P. Resnick, Deputy Bureau Chief, and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Peter A. Crusco and Deputy Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Linda M. Cantoni.

It should be noted that the charges are merely accusations and that the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.