Victim Denies Being Assaulted, Recants Story at Rap Star’s Trial

Best-selling, Grammy award-winning rapper Stanley “Flesh-N-Bone” Howse never threatened a man with an AK-47 semiautomatic assault rifle, as police allege, the victim testified Monday.

It was the first day of Howse’s trial in Van Nuys Superior Court, three months after his fourth album hit No. 2 on pop music charts and sold 280,000 copies during its first week in stores.

Howse, 27, who has a long arrest record, faces a maximum of 19 years and eight months in prison, if convicted. He is currently being held without bail because of a probation violation.

The alleged victim, Tarrance Vickers, said he never told police that Howse brandished a weapon after an argument at a Woodland Hills apartment complex. Howse, 27, is accused of assault with a semiautomatic firearm and possessing firearms, an illegal act for a convicted felon.

The testimony of Vickers, a self-described friend who said he once drank champagne with Howse in his limousine, directly contradicted what police said he told them immediately after the alleged crime.

“Naw. No way. I didn’t say none of that to any of the officers,” Vickers testified before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Darlene Schempp.

Howse, a member of the chart-topping rap group Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, has been in and out of court, collecting convictions for spousal abuse, firearm possession, assault and threatening a neighbor in Chatsworth who complained about hearing gunshots and reported him to police.

Howse, 27, allegedly displayed the weapon Dec. 26 in the 5500 block of Owensmouth Avenue, during an argument with another man over Howse’s girlfriend, officials said.

When Vickers, the man’s brother, tried to intervene, Howse drew an AK-47 out of a baby crib, loaded it, pointed it at Vickers and then chased the brothers, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Shellie Samuels.

In court Monday, Vickers disavowed just about everything police said he told them at the time of the incident, as he did during a preliminary hearing. Glancing occasionally at Howse on Monday, Vickers said, “I don’t know what the hell he got arrested for.”

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What really happened, Vickers testified, was that he and Howse got into a scuffle and he ran away when police came.

“He didn’t have no gun,” said Vickers, whose girlfriend lived in the same complex as Howse’s girlfriend. When Samuels showed him the AK-47 that Howse allegedly pointed at him, he said, “I’ve never seen that gun, not that I know of.”

According to court documents, police found an AK-47, a .223-caliber rifle and a .38-caliber revolver in the apartment where Howse was staying.

Since the mid-1990s, Howse has been convicted seven times of violence-related crimes, according to court documents.

For a 1994 incident, Howse was convicted of assault and making a terrorist threat and was sentenced to two years’ probation, with an additional 30-day jail sentence for probation violation. In the same year, he was convicted of spousal battery and sentenced to 45 days in jail, two years’ probation and later to an additional 60 days for violating probation, according to court records.

For three separate incidents in 1995, Howse was convicted of spousal abuse or battery and was sentenced to a total of more than two months in jail and probation.

Last year, Howse was sentenced to 91 days in jail after pleading no contest to assault, possession of an explosive device and making a terrorist threat.

He also had a probation violation. In the July 4, 1997, incident, a neighbor complained to police about hearing gunshots at Howse’s rented Chatsworth home, and police found a homemade explosive device and casings in his backyard, indicating a weapon had been discharged. Days later, Howse allegedly threatened to kill the 64-year-old neighbor.

In January, Howse was charged with weapons violations, making a terrorist threat and resisting an officer during an incident at a relative’s home in South-Central Los Angeles, according to Sandi Gibbons, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. A trial is pending.

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The most recent album of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, a rap group from Cleveland, is “BTNHResurrection.” Previous albums by the group, which also includes members Krayzie, Wish, Layzie and Bizzy Bones, debuted at No. 1.

The group is known for its rapid-fire raps and elegant, textured music, distinctive vocal flows and rich production.

Tierre Blizzard, a promoter at the Ruthless Records label, a division of Sony Music, said the rap star’s current legal travails do not affect his membership in the group. “He’ll be out in a few months,” Blizzard predicted.