Ja Rule Can't Bail Associates

Ja Rule

A New York judge has said that hip hopper Ja Rule can't cover the bail payments for two of his associates who were arrested with him last July in relation to illegal gun possession charges after police pulled over his car.

Ja, real name Jeffrey Atkins, paid his own $150,000 bond after his arrest, and also the combined $170,000 demanded for the bail of his driver Mohamed Gamal and road manager Dennis Cherry. The bail payments are secured on his $3.5 million New Jersey home.

But State Supreme Court Justice Micki Scherer said yesterday that Atkins couldn't pay for his associates' bonds, I think because he thinks that it gives the hip hop star too much influence over his associates, who may not, as a result, testify honestly against their boss when the case goes to court. Scherer said the current bail payment situation put Atkins "in the position of perhaps controlling the outcome of the case". Attorney Stacey Richman, who represents all three men, has said they are making other arrangements for the payment of Gamal and Cherry's bonds.

Elsewhere in the case, prosecutors have asked the court to order each defendant to give DNA samples so they can garner information that might help them identify the real owner of the offending gun.