Rapper Gets Probation on Gun Charge

Rapper Nate Dogg avoided a jail sentence Tuesday by pleading no contest to a misdemeanor charge that he possessed an unmarked firearm.

The 32-year-old singer, whose real name is Nathaniel Dawayne Hale, was placed on probation for three years and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine, said his lawyer, Mark Geragos. In exchange for the plea, Superior Court Judge Michael Cowell in Norwalk dismissed a felony charge alleging that Hale was a felon in possession of a firearm.

Hale, 32, was arrested in Pomona in June 2000 after performing at the “Up in Smoke” concert in Anaheim with Dr. Dre, Snoop Doggy Dogg and Eminem.

Hale initially was held on $1-million bail, charged with kidnapping and making terrorist threats in connection with an incident involving a former girlfriend. Police said he abducted the woman from her mother’s house in Lakewood and threatened to kill her and set fire to a relative’s car. But those charges were dropped after a preliminary hearing in March because of insufficient evidence.

“Obviously, to come from a potential life sentence to a misdemeanor with time served is a victory,” Geragos said. “With all his legal troubles behind him, we expect to see him out on tour soon.”

Hale got his start with Snoop Doggy Dogg and Warren G in a Long Beach-area band called 213. He later recorded with Dr. Dre on “The Chronic” and appeared in Snoop Doggy Dogg’s “Doggystyle.”