Rap Artist Eminem Pleads Guilty in Felony Concealed Weapon Case

Looking more like a chastened lamb than the music world’s angry lion, Grammy-nominated rap artist Eminem pleaded guilty Wednesday to one felony count of carrying a concealed weapon during a confrontation last summer outside a local bar.

The charge carries a maximum five-year prison term, and prosecutors said they intend to seek some jail time for the 28-year-old hometown artist, born Marshall Bruce Mathers III. After the hearing, Macomb County Prosecuting Attorney Carl Marlinga said his office will likely recommend six months in jail.

But one of the rapper’s defense attorneys said he expects his client, who has no prior criminal conviction, to get the more common sentence of probation when he appears before Macomb County Judge Antonio P. Viviano for final disposition of the case April 10. The prosecution’s desire to put Mathers behind bars is “unfair,” said attorney Brian Legghio.

“We say that we’re not singling out people if they’re poor, if they’re undereducated, then they ought not in fairness to be picked out because they’re a star or wealthy or some other factor,” said Legghio. “They ought to be treated just as any other individual.”

“His attorneys will request a sentence of straight probation, and Marshall is looking forward to putting this matter behind him,” spokesman Dennis Dennehy said.

As part of Wednesday’s arrangement, Mathers can withdraw his guilty plea if he is not satisfied with the proposed sentence. Prosecutors also agreed to drop a second felony charge of assault with a dangerous weapon, which carries a four-year maximum sentence.

Both charges stem from a confrontation June 4 outside the Hot Rock Sports Bar and Music Cafe in the blue-collar section of Warren, a Detroit suburb where Mathers spent part of his troubled adolescence. The singer allegedly used an unloaded 9-millimeter semiautomatic Smith & Wesson to hit a man whom the rapper’s wife had just kissed.

Mathers’ confession comes exactly a week before he is to take the stage and sing a duet with Elton John during the global broadcast of the Grammy Awards, which will take place at Staples Center. The rapper has come under fire from gay and women’s rights groups, because some say the lyrics on his two smash-hit CDs are misogynistic and homophobic. In one song, he sings about killing his wife and dumping her body in a lake--while their small child watches.

His “The Marshall Mathers LP” has been hailed by critics as a watershed work, with sales soaring to 8.1 million albums in the U.S. This year, he is nominated for four Grammys, including best album.

Marlinga said his office was mindful that the timing of Wednesday’s hearing may actually serve to hype Mathers’ Grammy appearance but added that his office was unwilling to delay the matter any further.

“We were aware of the fact that it is possible the criminal justice system could be played by this guy and his managers in order to gain him some more publicity, but we can’t do anything about that,” Marlinga said. “All we can do is simply put one foot after the other, and if he wants to score some points off of the added notoriety, that’s his business.”

But it was a humble, not haughty, Mathers who appeared in court. During the 10-minute hearing, he answered with a soft “Yes” or “Yes, sir” and gazed downward while Viviano repeatedly asked him if he understood the various rights he waived with the guilty plea.

Asked to describe what he was guilty of, the singer said: “Well, your honor, on June 4, 2000, in the city of Warren, I was in possession of a firearm in a motor vehicle.”

It was his only substantial statement. He was whisked away through a back door with no comment to the press.