The judge involved in Def Jam emcee Shyne's ongoing battle against the Son of Sam law has removed himself from the case because of a conflict of interest. Judge Howard Ruditzky says his brother-in-law is associated with a lawyer on Shyne’s defense team from Dershowitz and Dershowitz.
The emcee may have to wait up to thirty days for the case to be reassigned to another judge. Shyne, who publicly declared himself a descendent of Ethiopian Jews and changed his name from Jamaal Michael Barrow to Moses Michael Leviy, is fighting for the right to have his mother collect some of the $500,000 advance from a five album deal he signed with Def Jam in 2004.
The Son of Sam law prevents convicts from profiting off anything authorities feel is related to their crime. 26 year old Leviy was in 2001 found guilty of two counts of assault, reckless endangerment and illegal gun possession, stemming from a 1999 club shooting, involving former employer Sean "Diddy" Combs and Jennifer Lopez. Combs was acquitted and Leviy was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
In 2005 Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Michael Garson froze all profits from Leviy’s Def Jam debut, pending the outcome of civil cases against him. The defense argues that the Def Jam deal is in no way related to the club shooting, but attorneys for the victims feel Leviy is attempting to "circumvent the law for his own purposes."
The emcee may have to wait up to thirty days for the case to be reassigned to another judge. Shyne, who publicly declared himself a descendent of Ethiopian Jews and changed his name from Jamaal Michael Barrow to Moses Michael Leviy, is fighting for the right to have his mother collect some of the $500,000 advance from a five album deal he signed with Def Jam in 2004.
The Son of Sam law prevents convicts from profiting off anything authorities feel is related to their crime. 26 year old Leviy was in 2001 found guilty of two counts of assault, reckless endangerment and illegal gun possession, stemming from a 1999 club shooting, involving former employer Sean "Diddy" Combs and Jennifer Lopez. Combs was acquitted and Leviy was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
In 2005 Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Michael Garson froze all profits from Leviy’s Def Jam debut, pending the outcome of civil cases against him. The defense argues that the Def Jam deal is in no way related to the club shooting, but attorneys for the victims feel Leviy is attempting to "circumvent the law for his own purposes."
