Rapper was to be release from prison Tuesday, but a rep says officials may deport him to Belize.MTV Reports
It looks like Shyne's homecoming is on hold for the moment.
The former Bad Boy rapper (born Jamal Barrow) was scheduled to be released from prison Tuesday (October 6) after serving more than nine years of a 10-year sentence in connection with the 2001 Club New York shooting involving Diddy and Jennifer Lopez.
But his release is now under review, as representatives for the rapper revealed to MTV News that the Brooklyn MC is being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at an unspecified facility in Western New York State. Officials are determining whether or not to deport the rapper, who was born in Belize, a rep explained.
"Shyne is currently in federal custody while his future immigration status is determined," the rep said in a message to MTV News. Shyne attorney Oscar Michelen emphasized to MTV News on Tuesday afternoon that Shyne has not been released, contrary to media reports.
In August, a lawyer for Shyne said the rapper was "90 percent of the way home" after a judge ruled on his post-release supervision. The rapper received two and a half years of post-release supervision (probation, essentially) stemming from his conviction on first-degree assault and a host of other lesser charges. At the time of his sentencing, an official with the Department of Correction confirmed to MTV News that Shyne would have to complete at least eight years and seven months of his prison sentence.
For years, though, Shyne's release date has been the subject of much confusion. Michelen acknowledged the subject had become urban legend, as the rumors started yearly that his client would be released. Michelen told MTV News in August that he believed a clerical error led to the incorrect assumptions.
"I think [the basis for the rumor] was created by a computer," he explained, "because the Department of Corrections has a Web site where you can do an inmate lookup. And if you have the information, it will show you that [Shyne's] earlier release date was originally April [of this year] and then June. And we don't now how that was in there. But it showed that. And then what would happen is before a release date, [an inmate] would get produced before a parole board, and in the institution, there would be rumors that [Shyne] was up for parole. I guess inmates or guards would spread the rumor."
At press time, the status of Shyne's release from prison remained unclear.
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