Rapper Flesh Bone Gets 12-Year Jail Term
Lawyers Read Statement By Rapper Saying That He 'Must Be Punished'
Howse (pictured, right), who is also known as "Flesh Bone," in the platinum-selling rap group Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, could have faced 19 years behind bars for pointing an AK-47 assault rifle at a friend during an altercation last December.
But Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Darlene Schempp said that in sentencing Howse, 27, she had to take into account beatings and other mistreatment he suffered as a child.
"This is one of the worst cases I've read of childhood abuse," Schempp said after considering his case file that also included seven prior criminal convictions.
Lawyers for Howse had asked for the minimum term of 10 years after reading a letter from the rapper telling the judge: "I know I must be punished."
Prosecutors acknowledged Howse's "mental problems and a bad childhood" but said that the defendant had repeatedly defied authority and represented a danger to society.
"He is a person who loves guns, doesn't take orders from courts and has a propensity for violence," Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Shelli Samuels said.
Outside court, Howse's wife Chasitie sobbed and told reporters her husband had been unfairly punished.
"He didn't deserve no sentence of 12 years," she said. "He's done a lot for the community."
Howse is a founding member of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, which won a Grammy in 1997 for best rap performance by a duo or group for the single, "The Crossroads."
