Ah, the life of a celebrity, eh? One day you can be performing at the MTV VMAs and picking up the award for Best Hip Hop Video, and then the next your up in court on weapons charges.
Yes, Lil Wayne was back in court yesterday in that ongoing and much reported court case where he stands accused of carrying illegal drugs and a .40 caliber pistol on his tour bus when it was search by police after a gig in Manhattan in July 2007. He was charged with illegal possession of a weapon, although no drugs charges were brought against him.
At a pre-trial hearing yesterday, Officer Diane Hornung testified that she had boarded the bus after smelling marijuana smoke that had wafted out of the door. She then ordered everyone off the bus and headed to the toilet, where she found a man trying to flush a sandwich bag of the drug away. She added that she then saw Lil Wayne in a bedroom at the back of the bus trying to hide a bag, in which she found the handgun.
Despite Hornung's testimony, Wayne's lawyer Stacey Richman later got her to admit that she hadn't actually seen anyone smoking marijuana on the bus. Richman then argued that the case should be dismissed as Hornung's admission proved, she said, that the search had been illegal without probable cause.
No decision was made on this yesterday. The case will continue tomorrow.
Outside the court, Richmond told MTV: "There was direct testimony of one of the detectives [involved in Wayne's arrest], and then the cross-examination of the detective was begun. But then the district attorney wasn't available in the afternoon, so we broke until Wednesday".