DMX sentenced to 90 days in jail

Rapper DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, 38, listens to the proceedings in the courtroom, Friday, Jan 30, 2009, in Phoenix. DMX has been sentenced to serve 90 days in jail. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/Jack Kurtz, Pool

PHOENIX - Rapper DMX was sentenced to 90 days in jail Friday for convictions on theft, drug-possession and animal-cruelty charges.

DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, also was placed on at least 18 months' supervised probation by Maricopa County Superior Court Commissioner Phemonia Miller.

Simmons pleaded guilty Dec. 30 to three felony counts - theft, possession or use of marijuana, and possession or use of narcotic drugs - and one misdemeanour count of animal cruelty.

The 38-year-old rapper has been in the Maricopa County Jail since being arrested Dec. 9 in Miami on a warrant after failing to appear in court in Phoenix. His attorney, Stephen Lee Crawford, didn't immediately return calls seeking comment.

The Arizona Republic reported that Simmons was smiling as he entered the courtroom but sat down writhing in pain and subsequently said he had pain in his feet and knees and thought he was suffering from gout.

Miller told him she was sentencing Earl Simmons, not DMX, the newspaper reported. "I don't know DMX. Mr. Simmons, it's time you do something different," she said. "What you have been doing is not working."
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