Lil' Kim (a.k.a. Kimberly Jones) will stand trial for eight felony charges on November 25th in New York City.

The rapper, 28, was indicted last week and charged with conspiracy to commit perjury, obstructing justice and making false statements. She pleaded innocent and was freed on $500,000 bond. The charges followed a three-year investigation into a February 2001 shooting outside of the Hot 97 radio station's Greenwich Village location in New York.

According to police, Kim and her entourage crossed paths with the crew of rival rapper Capone, when shots were fired. Efrain Ocasio, a friend of Capone's, was shot in the back. Prosecutors accused Kim of lying about her relationship with two men involved in the shooting: bodyguard Suif Jackson, whom Kim said wasn't with her at the time, and Damion Butler, an alleged acquaintance she said she didn't know. Investigators claim that a security videotape shows some of the shooters leaving the scene in the rapper's limousine. Kim's attorney, Mel Sachs, called the charges "baseless." If convicted on all counts, she could face thirty years in prison.

ANDREW DANSBY
(April 21, 2004)