EMINEM PLEADS FOR
REDUCED SENTENCE

With his agreement to perform on next week's Grammy Award telecast (2/21), and Wednesday's decision to strike a deal with "the man," wonderers are wondering if Eminem is really all that hard.

Facing increased public opinion that he may have lost his edge, top-selling rapper Eminem pleaded guilty to a concealed weapons charge after prosecutors agreed to drop a felony assault charge.

In exchange, prosecutors agreed to dismiss the assault with a dangerous weapon charge. "Well, your honor on June 4, 2000, in the city of Warren, I was in possession of a firearm in a motor vehicle," Eminem told Judge Antonio P. Viviano.

The charges against Eminem stem from the June incident outside a Detroit-area nightclub, where Eminem (a.k.a. Marshall Mathers) allegedly pulled an unloaded gun on a man after he said that he witnessed the man kissing his wife, Kimberly Mathers (hitsdailydouble.com, 6/5).

Judge Viviano, of the Macomb County Circuit court, set sentencing for April 10. Prosecutor Carl Marlinga has said Mathers could be sentenced to as much as 17 months in prison. Mathers' lawyers have asked that he be sentenced to probation.

If Eminem and his attorneys do not accept the sentence given by Viviano, they can withdraw his plea and the case will then go to trial.

Mathers also faces other weapons charges in Oakland County for allegedly brandishing a handgun in June of last year during an argument with an associate of the rival band Insane Clown Posse (hitsdailydouble.com, 6/9).