Brothers’ Testimony in Rap Star’s Trial Contradictory

Did superstar rap artist Stanley “Flesh-N-Bone” Howse point a loaded AK-47 at someone last December after a dispute over a woman?

A possible 19-year prison sentence for the Grammy Award-winning rapper, who is charged with assault with a semiautomatic firearm, may depend on the answer.

When jurors begin their deliberations in Van Nuys Superior Court today, they must mull over contradictory accounts of Howse’s actions provided by two witnesses who happen to be brothers.

On Monday, Tarrance Vickers denied having told police, as the prosecutor alleged, that Howse pulled an AK-47 out of a baby crib, loaded it with a magazine or pointed it at him. Vickers also said that no one argued over Howse’s girlfriend, and that he never saw Howse, whom he called a friend, with a gun.

But on Tuesday, Vickers’ brother, Fred Nelson, contradicted Vickers’ testimony, and in so doing corroborated just about everything that police and prosecutors allege.

“The defendant asked my brother not to covet . . . not to make passes at his girlfriend,” said Nelson, recalling conversations he heard while they were in Howse’s girlfriend’s Woodland Hills apartment on Dec. 26.

Shortly afterward, Nelson continued, “[Howse] went to a bassinet and pulled out . . . an AK-47.”

The famous rapper--whom Nelson said he met the first time that day because his brother wanted to introduce them--then strapped the gun around his neck, pointed it at Vickers and told them to get out, Nelson testified.

Howse, 27, frowned and rubbed his chin as he listened to Nelson’s testimony. Just three months ago, his rap group Bones Thugs-N-Harmony’s fourth album debuted at No. 2 on pop music charts, selling 280,000 copies during the first week.

This trial is the most recent of a string of court appearances for the rapper, who has been convicted seven times since the mid-1990s of violence-related crimes ranging from assault to spousal abuse, according to court documents.

His most recent conviction was last year, when he pleaded no contest to charges of assault, possession of an explosive device and making a terrorist threat. 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 shell casings in his backyard, evidence that a weapon had been discharged. Days later, Howse allegedly threatened to kill the 64-year-old neighbor and his family.

In court Tuesday, Nelson testified that a large gun shown to him by Deputy Dist. Atty. Shellie Samuels appeared to be the weapon that Howse had pointed at his brother.

The AK-47 had a white terry cloth bathrobe belt tied to it, which Nelson said resembled the strap Howse used to hang the gun around his neck.

Later, Vickers’ girlfriend, who also lived at the apartment complex, called the police. Nelson said that after officers arrived, he heard his brother tell them what Howse was wearing and “that he had a gun.”

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.

Howse’s girlfriend, Jennifer Spencer, who was at her apartment Dec. 26, said the guns seized had been brought there by a bodyguard named “Zeus.”

When questioned by defense attorney Phyllis Brown-Scarlett, Spencer said she didn’t see her boyfriend point a gun at anyone, and that she didn’t see him hold a gun.

Closing arguments are expected to take place this morning, after which the jury will begin deliberating.