Thug Life Army

 

Some people summoned for jury duty in the federal trial of Lil'' Kim rapped the female rap diva when answering a questionnaire earlier this week.

At a hearing Friday, U.S. District Judge Gerald Lynch told prosecutors and defense lawyers to be careful when they screen the 200 prospective jurors who filled out questionnaires for the case.

Jury selection begins Monday in the perjury, obstruction and false statements trial of female rap artist Lil'' Kim. Testimony could begin as early as Tuesday.

Lynch noted that prosecutors and defense lawyers should not have OK''d some jurors who voiced strong opinions against Lil'' Kim, whose real name is Kimberly Jones.

He said, for example, that he was surprised prosecutors accepted a potential juror -- identified as "No. 9" -- who said that crime seems to be part of the hip-hop culture.

Lynch said that when the juror was asked for an opinion of Lil'' Kim, the juror said: "She's a rapper that spends a lot of money on diamonds. . .she seems like she would do almost anything for money."

"This is someone the government thinks is acceptable?" Lynch asked incredulously.

Assistant Manhattan U.S. Attorney Cathy Seibel said the juror must have gotten on the government's list of acceptable jurors through a clerical error.

Lynch rejected that explanation and noted the negative opinion of another juror on the government's acceptable list. That juror, identified as "No. 18," wrote on the questionnaire that rappers and hip-hop artists "seem to shoot each other."

"That's an interesting opinion in a case where a shooting is relevant," Lynch observed, noting that when asked about being fair to Lil'' Kim, the same juror wrote, "No, because she is too blatantly sexual for my liking."

Lynch also wondered why juror No. 37 was allowed to remain on the jury list. That juror mentioned having strong religious scruples against imposing judgment on others

"Who am I to pass judgment? Only God can do that," that potential juror wrote.

Lil'' Kim and her personal assistant Monique Dopwell are the last two remaining defendants in a case that once included three others who have pleaded guilty.

Prosecutors charge that two members of Lil'' Kim's entourage, Damion Butler and Suif Jackson, became involved in a shoot-out with a rival hip-hop group outside the Hot 97 radio station in Greenwich Village in February 2001.

The government charges that Dopwell and Lil'' Kim conspired from 2001 to 2003 to commit perjury, obstruct justice and make false statements in order to derail a federal grand jury investigation into the shooting.

Lil'' Kim, who was in court Friday, did not speak to reporters.