Judge Approves Drug Rehab for Rick James : Courts: Musician convicted of assault could be freed by September. Probe continues into the conduct of his case.

A deal allowing funk singer Rick James, convicted of assaulting women and other offenses, to go into a drug rehabilitation center instead of prison received court approval Thursday.

The arrangement, which could lead James’ freedom as early as September, was made after the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office revealed that the conduct of his case is the subject of an internal investigation. Sources close to the case said the investigation focuses on allegations that a district attorney’s investigator provided heroin to a key witness at James’ trial.

At a brief hearing in downtown Los Angeles on Thursday, Superior Court Referee Laura Heimowitz accepted a psychiatric evaluation prescribing that James be sent to the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco, under a deal struck between the musician’s attorney and prosecutors.

Earlier this month, James pleaded no contest to an assault charge against a woman at his Hollywood Hills home and was sentenced to five years and four months in prison. Coupled with earlier convictions for assault, false imprisonment and furnishing drugs, the self-proclaimed “King of Funk” could have been given 14 years in state prison.

Last week, Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Michael R. Hoff set aside a four-year prison sentence for James’ girlfriend, Tanya Anne Hijazi, 23, convicted of taking part in some of the crimes. The judge said Hijazi, who will be resentenced next month, should not receive a stiffer penalty than James.

Hijazi and James were convicted last September of assaulting Mary Sauger, 35, of West Hollywood, at the St. James’s Club and Hotel on Sunset Boulevard.