Rap star Eminem was sentenced to two years' probation yesterday in a US court. He was facing charges stemming from an incident in which he pistol-whipped a man who kissed his wife.
The 28-year-old Grammy-winning singer was also ordered to undergo periodic drug and alcohol tests and banned from owning a gun or any other weapon as a result of his night-club altercation with his estranged wife's admirer.
"I'm just glad it's over with," said Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Mathers, after the hearing in a Macomb County courtroom north of Detroit.
The millionaire rapper pleaded guilty to charges of carrying an unloaded, concealed gun in his car in a plea deal with prosecutors, after they agreed to drop a more serious charge of assault which carried a potential five-year prison term.
"I consider probation punishment," Macomb County Circuit Judge Antonio Viviano said after sentencing Mathers. "I don't consider it a lark or a slap on the wrist."
Viviano also ordered Mathers, a Detroit native, to undergo counselling, to provide his probation officer with an up-to-date itinerary of his work-related travel plans, and to pay $7,560 in fines and courts costs.
Mathers's lead attorney lauded the judge's decision as fair because, he said, it disregarded both his wealth and his celebrity.
The charges stemmed from an incident on June 4th, 2000, when Mathers attacked a man who was kissing his wife Kim outside a night-club in Warren, Michigan.
Mathers faces another weapons charge in neighbouring Oakland County from an incident that occurred the same evening.