Lil Wayne is headed to the big house. :mugshot:
In a surprise turn, the superstar pleaded guilty to a felony gun rap Thursday and agreed to spend a year behind bars.
Wayne, whose real name is Dwayne Carter, was hit with two charges after a loaded .40-caliber semi-automatic gun was seized from his tour bus.
The platinum-selling artist pleaded guilty to attempted possession of a weapon in the second degree, sparing him a possible 3-1/2-to-seven-year sentence.
The deal came in the middle of what was expected to be a lengthy pretrial hearing.
"Yes, sir," a somber Carter, 27, said when asked if he was ready to plead.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Charles Solomon noted he would not be able to withdraw the plea, drawing a swift reply from the "Lollipop" singer.
"I'm not one of those people," said Carter, wearing glasses, and black jeans and a white T-shirt under a blue fur-lined coat.
Carter, out on bail until he's sentenced in February, left the court with a blinged-out entourage. A hood covering his face, he hopped into a black Cadillac Escalade without comment.
The rapper will do half as much time as Plaxico Burress, who pleaded guilty in a gun case in the same courthouse.
A source said prosecutors made the deal because the evidence in the Lil Wayne case wasn't as strong as "the rock crush against Plaxico," who accidentally shot himself in a club.
Prosecutors said DNA on the gun - discovered in a Louis Vuitton bag on the bus - linked it to Carter. Defense lawyer Stacey Richman said the gun wasn't Carter's, and there was too little DNA to prove otherwise.
Thursday, Richman said the decision to plead after two years of legal wrangling was Carter's.
"He is a responsible person, a strong person," Richman said.
The Grammy winner, who was shot in 2001, is facing more legal trouble: he's scheduled for a March trial in Arizona on drug and weapons charges.
His fans doubt a prison stint or two would derail the New Orleans' native's career juggernaut.
"There's been so many artists that served jail time - look at Lil' Kim, look at T.I., look at 50 Cent - this is just one more thing for them to rap about and say that they overcame," said St. John's student Amy Braden, 20.
"And it's probably just going to make him stronger. I can't think of a rapper now who hasn't been in trouble with the police."
Jay Howard, 17, an aspiring rapper from Harlem, suggested the time away might be a boon to Lil Wayne's fortunes.
"He might take some more time to think of more stuff to write about, 'cause there's nothing really else to do to pass the time in jail," he said.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2...n_expects_.html