Rapper Remy Ma gets 8 years in prison

26-year-old teary-eyed as sentence is handed down in shooting of woman

Gary He / AP file

Rapper Remy Smith, also known as "Remy Ma," has been sentenced for assault, weapon possession and attempted coercion.

updated 2:15 p.m. ET May 13, 2008

NEW YORK - A weeping Remy Ma was sentenced to eight years in prison Tuesday for shooting a woman outside a Manhattan nightclub.

“I feel so bad for all the physical and mental pain you’ve gone through,” the Grammy-nominated rapper told the victim. “This has taken a toll on us and both our families. I would never wish you harm and I pray the best for all of us.”

The entertainer, whose real name is Remy Smith, had faced up to 25 years in prison for assault, weapon possession and attempted coercion for shooting Makeda Barnes Joseph last July in a dispute over money.

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Smith, 26, begged the judge for leniency for the sake of “my little boy,” saying she grew up “surrounded by failure, violence and poverty,” but “made something out of nothing” from her life.

State Supreme Court Justice Rena Uviller said she recognized that Smith had had a difficult childhood, but noted the victim had nearly died and will never be the same physically. Uviller called the rapper “a young woman whose anger is out of control.”

After the sentencing, Smith’s fiance, fellow rapper Papoose, began screaming in a hallway outside the courtroom. “All you want is money!” he said, apparently referring to the victim.

“Lock me up! Lock me up!” he then shouted to court officers, who escorted him out of the courthouse.

The couple had planned to wed last weekend at the Rikers Island jail, where Smith has been incarcerated. Correction officials said they called off the wedding after Papoose showed up with a handcuff key.

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Smith’s lawyer, Ivan Fisher, said Papoose had a key but denied that it could be used to open handcuffs. Papoose, whose real is Shamele Mackie, hasn’t been charged.

Fisher said the couple still plan to wed.

The fight in Manhattan’s trendy Meatpacking District erupted after Smith accused Joseph of taking $2,000 from her purse.

Prosecutors said she then fired two .45-caliber slugs into the woman’s abdomen and fled without calling police or for medical help.

Fisher said the sentence would be appealed.

He said the women struggled and the gun went off accidentally. He said Joseph’s story changed when her lawyer was preparing a $20 million lawsuit, which was later withdrawn.

Smith was nominated for a Grammy as part of the Terror Squad for the 2004 smash “Lean Back.”