Drug Rehab Center Denies Admission to Rick James

Funk singer Rick James, who was convicted of assaulting two women during drug binges, will not be admitted to a state-run drug rehabilitation facility, even though he has been undergoing evaluation there for five months, his attorney said Wednesday.

The warden of the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco sent a letter to defense attorney Mark J. Werksman that said James was not suitable for the nine-month treatment program that two judges said they thought would help the Grammy award-winning singer.

“They’ve convened some kind of star chamber out there, and for whatever reason they’ve determined Rick James does not meet the criteria,” Werksman said. “It’s a very subjective determination.”

Werksman said the letter he received Tuesday from Warden Jean E. Anderson indicates that those who demonstrate “violence-prone tendencies or who have been convicted of violent crime” are not suitable.

Werksman disagreed, saying James was perfectly suited to CRC because his crimes were the result of drug abuse.

“He ran afoul of the law solely because of his drug abuse,” Werksman said, acknowledging that drug use does not excuse James’ conduct. “His victims were not chosen at random; they chose to be with him and to do drugs with him.”

Attempts to reach Anderson or a spokesperson at CRC were unsuccessful.

If James had been accepted into the program and successfully completed it, he would probably have been released this fall.

James, the self-proclaimed King of Funk, was sent to CRC in January after a judge said he was eligible for evaluation there instead of serving the five-year, four-month prison term he received in a plea-bargain agreement with prosecutors.

Jurors convicted James of imprisoning and assaulting a woman at a fashionable West Hollywood hotel. James later pleaded no contest to attacking a second woman in his Hollywood Hills home as part of the plea bargain that was fashioned after allegations surfaced of impropriety.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Andrew R. Flier said the experts have made their determination and James should be sent to prison.

“The real issue has been lost--two people were hurt by a rock star,” Flier said.

James will be returned to Van Nuys Superior Court within two months and Judge Michael R. Hoff will determine if he will serve more than five years in prison, or if he will receive a lesser sentence.