Shots In The Club
On December 27, 1999, Jamal “Shyne” Barrow drew a 9 mm pistol and fired shots inside Club New York. Shyne was then a young, aspiring rapper in the company of Sean Combs, who was still “Puff Daddy” at that time. While the precise details are still somewhat confusing, it appears that the altercation began when Matthew “Scar” Allen, perhaps angry over a spilled drink, engaged in some general sh*t-talking and threats aimed at Puff and his entourage. There was some scuffling, and at some point, another man in the club threw a wad of cash at Combs. Shyne let loose a hail of hollowpoints, later claiming that a member of the opposing crew had pulled a gun. Shyne’s bullets hit three patrons of the club, who were apparently unrelated to the scuffle. One of those patrons, a young woman, was struck in the face. Shyne’s Conviction:
Shyne was convicted by a jury under New York Penal Law §120.10 for assault in the first degree. Specifically, he was convicted under the “depraved indifference” version of the crime, for recklessly engaging in conduct creating a grave risk of death to another, thereby causing serious physical injury to another. For this crime, Shyne was sentenced to ten years in prison. He was also convicted on several lesser offenses, such as reckless endangerment and criminal possession of a weapon, but those sentences were for less than ten years and were served concurrently with his assault conviction. Incidentally, Shyne was acquitted on the charges of intentional first degree assault and attempted murder. Shyne had admitted firing the gun, but claimed to have done it in self defense. Shyne is expected to be released early, sometime in 2008.
So What?:
An up-and-coming artist lost eight prime years of his life over some nonsense. Three people were shot for no good reason, one of them receiving disfiguring facial wounds. With all that tragedy, the parties involved were lucky: lucky that the bullet didn’t hit that woman a centimeter higher (which would have killed her according to medical testimony), lucky that more people weren’t struck by stray bullets in the crowded club, and lucky that more people in the club didn’t draw their own guns and fire.
The Takeaway:
Violence is almost always a bad way to solve problems. Shyne claimed self-defense, but the jury didn’t buy it. Keep that in mind whenever you are thinking about using violence to solve a problem. If you have time to think “I could claim self defense if I punch this dude,” you probably won’t be able to claim self defense because you could have used that time to retreat. Self-defense is not available in all situations involving violence, and is intended to be limited to those situations where you really have no choice but to use violence to protect yourself or another. Self-defense with deadly force is even more limited. It’s really hard to claim self defense when you shoot people that weren’t threatening you to begin with. Don’t bring a gun to crowded places – chances are you are a lousy shot anyway, and you might clip an innocent bystander, just like Shyne did. If you are going to a spot where you think you need a gun, then maybe you shouldn’t go there in the first place. And I don’t if Shyne was drinking at the club, but guns and alcohol NEVER mix.
Don’t be sucked in by the way that music, movies, or other media glamorize violence. It can be very entertaining, but trying to live that lifestyle is poisonous. Think of all the times you heard Puff talking tough – all that phony bravado went out the window when the indictments came. Also, don’t commit crimes thinking that you can rely on your future co-defendants. Puff made statements incriminating Shyne. Shyne made statements exonerating Puff. Puff got to continue life as a multi-millionaire, and Shyne got to begin life as a prisoner – a well-behaved and pretty fortunate prisoner, but a prisoner nonetheless.
Finally, be aware that this whole ordeal probably cost Shyne hundreds of thousands of dollars, maybe millions.
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