Rapper Remy Ma Pleads Not Guilty to Attempted Murder
By Ray McDonald
Washington
17 July 2007
Remy Ma (file photo)
Remy Ma has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and other counts in the shooting of a woman in Manhattan's trendy meatpacking district.
At the Grammy-nominated rapper's July 15 arraignment, the judge set bail at $250,000. Remy Ma - real name Reminisce Smith - remains jailed while the judge reviewed her bail offer.
Late on July 14, police found a woman with a gunshot wound to her lower abdomen. Three blocks away, officers found a luxury SUV registered to Remy Ma. The vehicle had been abandoned after being involved in a single-car accident.
The victim, 23-year-old Makeda Barnes-Joseph, was hospitalized July 15 in stable condition. She and Remy Ma had reportedly been close friends for 15 years.
A story in the New York Daily News quotes witnesses as saying Remy Ma believed Barnes-Joseph had stolen $2000 from her purse. The rapper turned herself in to police late on July 14.
She is charged with attempted murder, assault, and weapons possession. Scott Leemon, her attorney, said "I ask everyone to keep an open mind. Things are not always as they seem."
A former member of rapper Fat Joe's group Terror Squad, 26-year-old Remy Ma was nominated for a 2004 Grammy Award for the hit single "Lean Back." She also earned Best Female Hip-Hop Artist honors at the 2005 BET Awards.
Saturday's shooting occurred outside the Pizza Bar nightclub. Security tapes showed the rapper with her friends, but had no footage of the altercation.
source:
http://www.voanews.com
