T.I.

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T.I. has been sentenced to eleven months in prison, after being arrested in possession of drugs while serving probation. "I screwed up. I screwed up big time and I am sorry," the rapper told U.S. District Judge Charles Pannell, but the judge was in no mood for apologies. He will also face a year of supervision on release. T.I., real name Clifford Harris, was serving a three year probation following a year in jail for federal weapons charges brought in 2007. Last month, just eight months after he got out, police in Los Angeles arrested T.I. and his wife after smelling pot coming from their parked car. The police officers found more drugs including ecstasy in the car. Less than 48 hours before the probation hearing, T.I. was reported to have helped talk a suicidal man off a ledge, but that had no impact on the judge's decision. "I think Mr. Harris had had about the limit of second chances," Judge Panell said. "The worst thing is this case was an experiment... You certainly dumped a lot of smut on the whole experiment."

T.I. has been sentenced to a year and a day in prison, thanks to a complicated plea bargain which ensured he avoided the maximum sentence of almost five years in jail for felony weapons charges dating back almost 18 months. The complex legal negotiation means that the rapper, real name Clifford Harris, could be released after just ten months behind bars if he qualifies for good behavior early release. In exchange for the drastically reduced jail-time, T.I. has already served over 1,000 hours of community service and almost a year of home confinement, and has also promised to pay a $100,000 fine and serve another 500 hours of community service after release. MTV reported that at the sentence hearing in Georgia, T.I. gave a ten minute long speech explaining how his life had developed until the fateful night in October 2007 when he was caught illegally trying to acquire machine guns. He concluded: "This has been the most insightful moment in my life. I've taken the great lesson from it and I will use it in my life. With that, I bid you adieu."

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