DMX Profanely Pleads Out in Miami Drug Bust

Rapper pleads guilty to attempted possession and sentenced to time served for trying to buy drugs from undercover cop

By Natalie Finn Aug 28, 2008 9:43 PMTags
DMX, MugshotMaricopa County Sheriff's Office

DMX is slowly cleaning up after himself. Albeit a bit messily.

The beleaguered rapper was sentenced to time served Thursday in Miami after pleading guilty to attempted marijuana and cocaine possession, a deal that will allow him to avoid jail time—in the Sunshine State, at least.

He was also ordered to pay a $483 court fine and return for a follow-up hearing Oct. 3. To which DMX could be heard replying, "I ain't coming back on f--king Oct. 3," per MTV News.

But they're apparently going to let him leave anyway.

"You need to tell your client that I've heard the F-word before," Judge Lawrence Schwartz told defense attorney Bradford Cohen. "He can send it to me anytime he wants to come in, if that's what makes him happy, but he certainly didn't help his stature any with what he mumbled as he left the podium."

Cohen, who maintains that the evidence against his client was weak, said that DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, would probably have had to sit in jail until at least October awaiting trial if he hadn't pleaded out. He could have gotten up to six years in prison if convicted.

The "We Right Here" artist had been behind bars since being denied bail after Miami police picked him up Aug. 14 on a bench warrant for skipping a court date in Arizona.

The drug charge stemmed from his June 27 arrest in Miami after, per authorities, he tried to purchase $30 worth of coke and $15 of pot from an undercover cop. The 37-year-old MC had also been busted June 23 for driving with a suspended license.

Arizona authorities now have 15 days to extradite him back to Phoenix, where the Cradle 2 the Grave star is facing 11 felony counts of animal cruelty and drug possession for allegedly keeping a pack of malnourished, dehydrated pit bulls at his Cave Creek residence and then having pot on the premises when the cops came to search the place. Twice.

He has pleaded not guilty on all counts.

That case, and two felony charges for allegedly trying to use a fake identity to get out of paying his tab at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, where he underwent treatment for pneumonia in April, are what DMX will be facing upon his return to Maricopa County.

If Arizona officials fail to fetch him in Miami within the next 15 days, he'll be released on his own recognizance. If he is extradited back to Phoenix, he will have to post bond.