Rapper Gets Probation, but Could Still Be Jailed on Other Charges

He may have avoided jail time on felony charges of beating up his neighbor, but lauded rap star Stanley “Flesh-N-Bone” Howse’s legal troubles continue.

On Friday, the city attorney’s office announced it will seek to have Howse jailed, claiming he violated the conditions of probation on an earlier battery conviction when he beat up a 64-year-old neighbor last summer over complaints of loud music.

Deputy City Atty. Mike Pizzuti said Howse was on probation for convictions of domestic violence, battery and narcotics-related offenses when police arrested him at his Chatsworth home last summer on the more recent charges.

The probation allegation was delayed until the more serious felony charges were decided.

Superior Court Judge Shari K. Silver sentenced Howse and his brother-in-law Jamar Tarik Cole to three years probation after they entered no-contest pleas on assault and illegal fireworks charges Friday morning. They were also sentenced to community service and told to undergo anger counseling.

In exchange for the pleas, Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Foltz dropped terrorist threat and weapons charges and an explosives charge that carried mandatory incarceration.

Foltz said he agreed to the no-time sentence because there were mitigating factors, principally that the neighbor, Stephen Gambino, insulted the rapper and his entourage when confronting them about playing music so loud it rattled his windows.

Alan Baum, Howse’s defense lawyer, said that when his client appears for a court hearing on Monday, he does not expect to be jailed for violating probation.

He said Gambino had been warned to stay off the property and told to call Baum’s manager or police if he thought the music was too loud.

Instead, Gambino walked into Howse’s backyard on June 25th and confronted the men, shouting and using racial epithets, Baum said.

Howse, Cole and another man allegedly kicked, spit on and threw rocks at Gambino.

But Howse wasn’t arrested until July 4th, when police investigating complaints of shots fired found various weapons and illegal fireworks in his rented $600,000 Lassen Street home.

Howse is one of the five founding members of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, who are said to have practiced the harmonies that distinguish their music while selling crack cocaine on the street corners of Cleveland.

They found success almost immediately after moving to Los Angeles in 1993. The quadruple-platinum-selling group won a Grammy for best rap performance by a duo or group in 1997 and last week won rap group of the year in the American Music Awards.

Baum, Howse’s lawyer, blamed the rapper’s criminal arrests on alcohol abuse and said the Grammy Award-winning artist has since reformed. After his release from jail in July, he entered a treatment program and began donating time and money to children’s charities.

His efforts impressed the judge.

“This was a horrible crime and when I first read the report, I was ready to send you to prison without blinking an eye,” Silver said on Friday. “You have done a tremendous job of turning yourself around.”

As she put him on probation, she ordered Howse to obey the law and “not to use force or violence against any living entity.”

It was a warning Howse has no doubt heard before.

According to the city attorney’s office, Howse was arrested in February 1994 on suspicion of being under the influence of PCP as he tore up a hotel room. He was arrested again in August 1994 and twice in 1995 for domestic abuse against his then-girlfriend, who was pregnant during one of the attacks, authorities said.

Howse was sentenced Jan. 14, 1997 to 60 days in jail and placed on probation on all charges, city prosecutors said. He was also put on probation after a 1995 fight with his brother in Hollywood.

Howse also faces a civil suit filed by Gambino three months ago. The beating left Gambino with permanent jaw damage, hearing and vision problems, his lawyer said.