Philadelphia rap artist Beanie Sigel entered the federal courtroom yesterday in full persona: flashy clothes and a smile to match, big entourage and a courtroom full of supporters, many wearing his label's designer line of street wear.
He left court as Dwight Grant - Beanie Sigel is on hiatus for the next year while Grant serves a prison term on his guilty plea to gun and drug charges resulting from his arrest in an April 20, 2003, police chase in South Philadelphia.
"I'm all right, it's gonna be all right," said Sigel, 30, as he left the courtroom.
"God is good!" added Sigel's mother and manager, Michelle Brown-Derry, jubilant and with good reason. Sigel's one-year prison term was far better than the 30 to 37 months recommended for him under federal sentencing guidelines.
The one-year prison term was a significant break from U.S. District Judge R. Barclay Surrick, who cited Sigel's "post-arrest rehabilitation" from years of drug addiction and his significant charitable work in the African American community.
Surrick noted that Sigel was a regular drug user since age 15, but "almost immediately after he went [for in-patient treatment] he started to take responsibility for his drug addiction."
Sigel thanked Surrick for "a second chance to turn my life around. I know the situation I was in was a reckless, a dangerous situation."
"I'm a person who realizes he made a lot of mistakes in my life," Sigel added. "I want to try to dedicate my life to correcting as many of those mistakes as possible. My sons are sitting out there [in the courtroom]. I want them to say, 'That's Dwight Grant, that's my dad,' not, 'That's Beanie Sigel.' "
Sigel, whom the judge also fined $25,000, will report in 30 days to a federal prison to be designated. With credit for two months served between Sigel's arrest in July 2003 and when he was freed on bail, and credit for good behavior while in prison, Sigel could be free to resume his career next July.
Surrick's sentence came after a hard-fought five-hour hearing at which Assistant U.S. Attorney Curtis R. Douglas did his best to persuade the judge to give Grant more time behind bars, and defense attorney Cheryl A. Krause worked just as hard to get him less.
Douglas argued that Sigel's sobriety and good works were guaranteed by the fact that he was on electronically monitored house arrest and by the watchfulness of an extended family for whom Sigel was a "meal ticket."
