A Fulton County, Ga. court has sentenced Da Brat to 12 months probation, a $1,000 fine, and 80 hours of community service, in a plea bargain concerning felony aggravated assault charges connected with an alleged altercation between the Chicago-originating rapper and another woman at an Atlanta club.
By pleading guilty Jun. 8 in Fulton County Superior Court, the Da Brat, whose legal name is Shawntae Harris, persuaded the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office to reduce the original felony charge connected with the March 8, 2000 incident to misdemeanor reckless conduct. The 26-year-old rapper on Atlanta-based So So Def Records faced a maximum of 25 years and minimum of one year in prison before the reduced charges. Da Brat had arrived at the club after completing rehearsals as an opening act for Mariah Carey’s North American tour.
Da Brat was accused of pistol-whipping Rezue Robateue with a .22 caliber gun after Robateue reportedly refused when asked by a woman who was not related to the So So Def rapper’s party to leave a railing designating the VIP section of the Chili Pepper nightclub in the North Atlanta entertainment district of Buckhead. Initially, Da Brat’s Atlanta attorney B.J. Bernstein maintained that her client was innocent of the charges. Robateue, who said Da Brat struck her across the eye and in the forehead in the alleged altercation with the reported firearm, was described by her attorney Jim Lewis as an aspiring rapper.
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“She [the patron who asked Robateue to leaving the VIP section railing] didn’t have knowledge of Ms. Harris,” Erik Friedly, director of public affairs for the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office, said in a phone interview Monday. “We accepted the plea because we couldn’t get any witnesses to confirm the facts of the case, that Ms. Harris had a gun. We couldn’t get anyone, even the victim’s companions, to come forward and confirm that Ms. Harris had a gun.
“Of course there’s a chance that security at the club patted everyone down except VIP’s. But security there said they patted down everyone that comes through the club.”
No firearm was found on Da Brat and near where the incident allegedly occurred, and some witnesses reportedly told Atlanta police investigators that the rapper might have struck Robateue with a shot glass. What specific community service the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office and the court would require from Da Brat has not yet been determined, Friedly said.
