Girlfriend of Singer Rick James Gets Sentence Reduced

A judge has reduced from four years to two the prison sentence imposed on the girlfriend of funk singer Rick James for assaulting a woman during a drug party in West Hollywood.

Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Michael R. Hoff said he reluctantly reduced the term because James himself, although he had been found guilty of more serious offenses than his girlfriend, probably will be released this fall following treatment in a drug rehabilitation program.

James’ light sentence and the reduction in the term of Tanya Anne Hijazi, 23, come in the wake of an investigation into what sources close to the case said are allegations of misconduct by an investigator in the district attorney’s office. The investigator was not assigned to the James case but he is under scrutiny because he allegedly had provided drugs to one of the witnesses who testified against the singer.

James, best known for the 1981 hit “Super Freak,” was convicted Sept. 17 of assaulting and imprisoning Mary Sauger, 35, at the St. James Club & Hotel on the Sunset Strip in 1992. James was acquitted on several charges, although the jury deadlocked 11 to 1 in favor of a guilty verdict on six other charges, including torture.

Hijazi pleaded guilty to assault on the day she and James were to go on trial and was sentenced to four years in prison. In exchange for her plea, prosecutors dropped a dozen other charges that carried a potential life sentence.

As part of a sentencing deal that sent him to a drug treatment program instead of prison, James also pleaded guilty to assaulting a second woman at his Hollywood Hills home in 1991.

Prosecutors, saying they had a case fraught with difficulties and that the two victims did not want to testify again, agreed to the sentencing deal under which James is expected to be freed this year--even though he faced the possibility of life in prison if he were convicted in a second trial on charges the jury was unable to resolve.

Leonard B. Levine, Hijazi’s attorney, said that under the new sentence, he hopes to see her released in August.

The judge sentenced James last month to five years and four months in prison, but the term was stayed when he was admitted to the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco. If James successfully completes the 8 1/2-month treatment program, he will be released on parole.

Hoff said recent events in the case have shown him “the best of times and the worst of times.”

“I’m very troubled by this entire case, and in particular the recent events which have brought us here,” Hoff said.

The district attorney is probing the possibility that an investigator provided drugs to Michelle Allen, one of three women who testified against James, according to sources close to the case. Allen, who was in custody on theft charges and was not named as a victim, testified to bolster the prosecution’s contention that James chronically abused women.

Hoff said he was also disappointed that a gag order he issued to protect the investigation has been violated, leading to news accounts of the alleged misconduct.

The judge made it clear that the prosecutor in the case, Deputy Dist. Atty. Andrew Flier, acted with a “high degree of personal integrity and honesty” and in no way was accused of misconduct.

Although the case has now been tainted by the investigation, Hoff reminded everyone that in “the simplest terms, this case is about cocaine, abuse and assaultive behavior toward women.”

Defense attorney Levine characterized Hijazi as a victim who also received beatings from James.

“I’m glad that she’s not going to be incarcerated longer than Rick,” said Hijazi’s mother, Susanne Shapiro. “I think the judge was very fair,” she said. “It gives me a little more faith in the criminal justice system.”