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Shyne to fight "Son of Sam" law
Jailed rapper changes his legal name and hopes to convince the court to unfreeze his assets, citing the financial hardship of his family.
As he nears the halfway point of a 10-year prison term, former Bad Boy rapper Shyne says his family is destitute and badly needs money he's made while he's been in jail.
To do so, his lawyers are challenging a nearly 30-year-old law that prohibits any criminal offender from receiving profits from a crime, hoping to get access to royalties from Shyne's 2004's God Father Buried Alive and a $500,000 advance he received from Def Jam Records.
Shyne--real name Jamal Michael Barrow--was convicted of first-degree assault for his role in a 1999 shooting at a New York night club that left three people with gunshot wounds. The incident and subsequent trial was the subject of a media frenzy because Bad Boy founder Sean "Diddy" Combs was involved and was acquitted of all charges in the same trial as Barrow. Jennifer Lopez, his girlfriend at the time, was also present at the time of the incident.
Shyne's attorneys went to court today to challenge the "Son of Sam" law, named as such because it was created in New York in the late 1970s in order to prevent serial killer David "Son of Sam" Berkowitz from selling his story to publishers and profiting from his crimes.
The hearing was continued until March 20.
"He was the sole support of his family," attorney Owen Michelen told The New York Post. "They are in very difficult financial circumstances."
In a move that Shyne's lawyer said is unrelated, the Biggie-soundalike changed his legal name three days ago from Jamal Michael Barrow to Moses Michael Leviy due to his strong faith in Judaism. He took out a classified ad in Saturday’s New York Post to announce the name change.
Michelen told MTV News that Shyne, whose grandmother is an Ethiopian Jew, has long been a practicing Jew, but that he was spurred to give himself a Jewish name to clear up any confusion about his religion.
The "Son of Sam" law places any profits that would have gone to the offender in a holding account to potentially benefit the offender's victims or contributed to the state victim compensation fund. Assets are often set aside until civil lawsuits filed by victims are settled.
Barrow still faces several civil suits related to the shootings, although he was allowed to collect $100,000 last year to pay past and current attorney fees and family expenses.
Michelen's challenge to the "Son of Sam" law centers on his claim that the law prevents someone from profiting off of their crime and that Shyne's record deal and God Father Buried Alive are unrelated to the 1999 incident.
"Barrow's record deal is no way related to the crime," he said. "The law's gone overboard. You don't lose all your rights in prison. Barrow never profited from the incident and the injunction effectively guarantees that he will not be able to earn assets that could be used to pay the plaintiffs should they win their lawsuit against him."
Michelen also told MTV News that Shyne has been working on new material but is refraining from writing any rhymes about the 1999 incident.
Shyne is not eligible for parole until at least 2009.
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