Judge Denies Keith Murray's Request For Reduced Sentence
Rapper Keith Murray received a legal setback on Wednesday when a
Connecticut
Superior Court judge refused his request for a reduced sentence on
a 1995
second-degree assault charge.
Connecticut's New Britain Superior Court Judge James
Graham denied the motion to reduce the rapper's sentence of five years,
according to Mary Tisdale, an employee of the Court.
Murray had requested that the sentence be reduced to three years in jail
plus three years probation.
The sentence, originally handed down in 1997, was the end result
of a 1995 incident in which Murray hit a fan named
David Hughes over the head with a metal bar stool during a brawl.
"[Murray's] lawyer has now appealed to the [state] supreme court
for certification," Tisdale explained. "There's no set time when
the court has to rule, so it could be a while
before we hear if they will certify this verdict."
Murray, 26, first appeared on the hip-hop scene when he kicked a few raspy-but-smooth
rhymes on Erick Sermon's 1993 solo debut, No Pressure. Murray's The Most
Beautifulest Thing in This World was released in 1994 and is notable for the hit title
track and the appearance of his future Def Squad bandmates, Redman and Sermon, on
"How's That." Murray was on tour supporting the album when the incident occurred.
In 1996, Murray released Enigma, which also featured appearances from Sermon
and Redman. The trio united once again in 1997 to record a version of the Sugarhill
Gang's classic "Rapper's Delight" for the In Tha Beginning ... There Was Rap
covers compilation. Their version proved to be a big hit, so the three united under the Def
Squad moniker and recorded the critically acclaimed El Niño, which
debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200 albums chart when it was released in July of
this year. The trio spent the early part of this summer traveling the U.S. as a part of the
"Survival of the Illest" tour with Def Jam labelmates DMX and Onyx.
According to Tisdale, Murray would begin serving the sentence if
the state supreme court signs off on the verdict.
Spokespeople for Jive, Keith Murray's label as a solo artist, had no comment on his legal
wranglings. Spokespeople for Def Jam, the label that handles Def Squad, could not be
reached by press time.