Crib Notes
Stay plugged into the A with Creative Loafing's music blog
Driver behind murder of T.I.’s friend, Philant Johnson, sentenced to prison
Saturday, June 27th, 2009
When T.I.’s long-time friend and personal assistant Philant Johnson was killed in 2006, the Atlanta rapper was distraught to say the least.
T.I. — now serving a 366 day sentence in Arkansas — and his entourage, including Johnson, were involved in a shooting after leaving a nightclub in Cincinnati in early May 2006.
Padron Thomas, the man who drove the vehicle from which the deadly shots were fired, has been sentenced to 17 years in prison.
From the Associated Press:
Forty-one-year-old Padron Thomas told a judge he’s a “knucklehead” and wishes he could take back what he did. He was sentenced Wednesday on gun charges and unrelated federal drug charges.
He testified in December against his younger brother, who was sentenced to 66 years in prison for shooting Philant Johnson in May 2006 after a T.I. concert in Cincinnati.
Three others were injured in the shooting. The Grammy-winning Atlanta rapper wasn’t hurt.
In exchange for his testimony, Thomas received a reduced sentence for his involvement in a drug ring that shipped marijuana from California to Cincinnati.
(Photo by Crickontour/Flickr)
Faced with receiving stiff sentence to the hokey-pokey or turning his life around, T.I. chose well
Friday, March 27th, 2009
(SEE PHOTO GALLERY OF TODAY’S SENTENCING PRESS CONFERENCE)
A funny thing happened to Clifford “T.I.” Harris in the year leading up to the sentence hearing, held earlier today, on his federal firearms conviction: the 27-year-old Atlanta rapper turned his life around — and, apparently, a lot more lives in the process.
T.I. declared it so. His team of defense attorneys agreed. Even former Ambassador Andrew Young and Bishop Eddie Long said they recognized the change in him when they addressed the court on the defendant’s behalf.
But perhaps it was best acknowledged by U.S. District Judge Charles A. Pannell, Jr. when he told T.I., “I congratulate you on the work you’ve done so far. If you had failed I would’ve sent you to prison [and] I would’ve probably held Mr. Nahmias out the window of the 23rd floor.”
Everyone in the courtroom laughed at that, including David E. Nahmias, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. Without his belief that society could be better served by sticking T.I. with 1,500 hours of community service rather than the four to six years of fed time warranted by the crime, the mood in that courtroom — located on the 23rd floor of the Richard B. Russell Federal Building — would’ve been quite different today.
Convicted killer of T.I.’s friend Philant Johnson sentenced to 66 years
Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008After being convicted by a Cincinnati jury for murdering Atlanta rapper T.I.’s friend and associate, Philant Johnson, Cincinnati’s Hosea Thomas was sentenced to 66 years in prison this morning.
The prosecution’s star witness was the brother of the convicted killer, Pardon Thomas, who took the stand to recount his version of the events that occurred one night in May 2006 when a shootout ensued between two vehicles on I-75. The incident happened after T.I. and his entourage got into an altercation after a performance at a Cincinnati night club.
According to the Associated Press:
The rap star, whose real name is Clifford Harris, took the stand during Thomas’ trial and said he believed the shots fired at his entourage were really meant for him. T.I. was not hurt.
