Rap artist Lil' Kim has been accused of believing that she was above the law during closing arguments at her perjury trial yesterday.
Lil' Kim, real name Kimberly Jones, is charged with lying to a federal grand jury investigating a 2001 shootout, involving two of her associates, Suif Jackson and Damion Butler.
Jones claimed that she did not see Butler at the scene at the time of the shooting and said that she did not know Jackson when shown a photograph of him.
Cathy Seibel, assistant US Attorney, said yesterday: "Maybe Kimberly Jones bought into her own image. Maybe she believed she was a Queen Bee above the law. That for a multifaceted superstar the rules are different for her." Queen Bee is the name of Lil' Kim's record label.
The singer testified last week that she had been traumatised after being present at the shootout and that when questioned in front of the grand jury she could not remember if Butler was there and that she could not identify Jackson in the picture.
Siebel claimed that Jones, and her co-defendant Monique Dopwell, had remembered plenty of other details from the day of the incident but that neither could remember Butler at the scene.
"They were trying their best to deceive the grand jury," Seibel said. "Both defendants told the same lie... It shows an intentional plan of action."
Video evidence shows that Butler was standing on the street near Jones at the time of the shootout.
