Rapper Gets 11 Years for Armed Threats

Grammy Award-winning rapper Stanley “Flesh-N-Bone” Howse, described by the judge as a victim of child abuse, was sentenced Friday to 11 years in state prison for threatening a man with an AK-47 semiautomatic assault rifle while on probation in another weapons case.

After sentencing by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Darlene Schempp, Howse, 27, was returned to Los Angeles County Jail, where he has been held without bail for violating probation.

Howse could have faced 19 years in prison. However, Schempp reduced the sentence to 11 years after taking into account beatings and other trauma the musician suffered as a child.

Schempp recommended that Howse be placed in a state prison with facilities to treat inmates with mental disorders.

Defense attorney Jonathan Kissel asked that Howse receive a 10-year sentence, saying that trauma Howse suffered as a child has affected the way he functions in society.

Even so, Deputy Dist. Atty. Shellie Samuels argued that Howse should have been sentenced to at least 12 years in state prison. “He loves guns, and every time he is not in custody he seems to have a gun,” Samuels said after the hearing. “I feel sorry that he had a bad childhood and has mental problems, but that doesn’t change our responsibility to protect the public from him.”

The rap artist displayed the weapon Dec. 26 in a Woodland Hills residence during an argument with an acquaintance, officials said.

When Tarrance Vickers, the acquaintance’s brother, tried to intervene, Howse drew the AK-47 out of a baby crib, loaded it, pointed it at Vickers and then chased Vickers and his brother, officials said.

Howse has been in and out of court on convictions for spousal abuse, firearm possession, assault, and threatening a neighbor in Chatsworth who complained of hearing gunshots and reported him to police.