Mount Vernon rapper sentenced in gun case
Photo credit: Westchester County district attorney's office | Demetrius Williams, a rapper from Mount Vernon, was sentenced to five years in prison for illegally possessing a handgun in New Rochelle. (June 5, 2012)
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An aspiring hip-hop artist from Mount Vernon was sentenced Tuesday to five years in prison for illegally possessing a handgun.
Demetrius "DemeGod" Williams, 35, was convicted by a Westchester County Court jury in April in White Plains of second-degree criminal possession of a handgun, a felony that carries a minimum of five years in prison and a maximum of 15 years behind bars.
Assistant District Attorney Brian Bendish asked Judge Barbara Zambelli to sentence Williams to more than the minimum, noting his nickname was "Danger" and that the lyrics to his songs contain references to guns and violence. Bendish also said that Williams had a history of criminal gun possession.
Williams denied he was violent, saying his songs were about past experiences in his life and saying that the name "Dangerous" was one that was attached to him when he was younger and he has since shunned it, performing under the name DemeGod.
"I just took a negative and tried to make something positive out of it," he said, as he stood in handcuffs before Zambelli, dressed in a white suit.
New Rochelle police arrested Williams on May 6, 2011, following an altercation between Williams and an employee of Yamaha Wheel Sport Center on Huguenot Street. The dispute was over a payment owed on a Yamaha scooter. Williams agreed to leave the scooter at the store. After police left, the employee said he discovered a loaded .9 mm handgun in a locked compartment under the scooter seat. He called police, who tracked down Williams.
As Williams left court Tuesday, he nodded to his family, including his pregnant girlfriend, as court officers led him away.
