Court Slaps DMX With 1-Year Prison Sentence For Tax Evasion

Rapper Earl Simmons a.k.a. DMX has been sentenced to a year in prison after a federal judge found him guilty of tax evasion.

The ruling was handed on Wednesday, March 28, in a federal court in Manhattan. In addition, the "X Gon Give it to Ya" rapper was also given three years of supervised release and $2.29 million in restitution to the government.

DMX was arrested in July 2017 and faced 14 charges of tax fraud. He initially pled not guilty and paid $500,000 in bail but, in November, he admitted to evading $1.7 million as part of a deal with prosecutors.

NME reports that, if the rapper did not plead guilty, he could be facing up to 44 years in prison.

A Very Musical Defense

In court records recently obtained by the press, Simmons' lawyer, Murray Richman, asked the court for permission to play some DMX rap songs before his sentencing on Wednesday. Richman argues that the music will help the judge understand the rapper "genuinely in his voice" because Simmons was too emotional to speak.

The lawyer played the recording of "Slippin," a track from 1998. New York Times revealed that Richman compared DMX to great poets such as Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron, and John Keats.

"It is raw Earl," said the lawyer about the song. "We are not here or desirous of molding him into what some may want to see; Earl is uniquely him and that is both his beauty of mind and his genius."

The judge, however, said that it is necessary to punish the rapper for the crime, but added that he sympathize with the artist.

Prosecutors initially recommended a five-year sentence term for the rapper. They argued that Simmons schemed to evade paying taxes through a "cash lifestyle," using other people's bank accounts and even asking for his payment from appearing on the television show Celebrity Couples Therapy to be handed to him without taxes withheld.

In addition, the rapper claimed incorrect information into his bankruptcy proceedings.

Previous Criminal Charges

This was not the first time that the "Party Up" rapper had to face the court. Simmons also pled guilty in a court in Queens for reckless endangerment and driving while under the influence of drugs. According to reports, in 2004, he was arrested after he stopped another vehicle, pretended to be a federal agent, and tried to force the man out of the car. DMX was ordered to pay $1,000 fine and forfeit his SUV. Corey Kilgannon he used during the event.

In 2008, Simmons also pled guilty to theft, drug possession, and animal cruelty in Arizona.