Maryland’s House Judiciary Committee is currently reviewing House Bill 21, which some have referred to as the "TI bill," due to a case involving the rapper from last year. The bill would help to limit the power of District Court commissioners, who can issue arrest warrants based solely off civilian allegations. Baltimore City State's Attorney Ivan Bates hopes it will be curb arrests under false pretenses. He testified in support of the bill last month.
“Too often we see individuals that have arrest warrants put out on them for whatever reason, then they’re detained, they’re locked up, and they’re arrested,” Bates said in his testimony, as caught by Baltimore’s ABC2. “For whatever reason, they’ve lost jobs, they’ve lost time from their community.” He further added: “Rapper T.I. had an arrest warrant placed on him by a young lady who lived in Baltimore City, had never met him. And there was an arrest warrant for him. Fortunately for him, when he was stopped at the airport, he had lawyers who reached out to our office, and we were able to get that quashed. However, what about the average citizen?” The bill would increase penalties for anyone filing a false criminal complaint, upping the maximum sentence from six months in jail to three years in prison.
Why Was TI Arrested?
As for TI's case, police took him into custody at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Atlanta, last August. A woman in Baltimore alleged that he rapper beat her up, stalked her, and harassed her with a gun. She also claimed that his wife, Tiny, was in some way involved. Within hours of TI's arrest, police let him go and a judge reviewed and dismissed the case.
In other news, TI and Tiny recently secured a major lawsuit victory in their copyright infringement case against MGA Entertainment, the company behind O.M.G. Dolls. A judge awarded them $71.5 million after they claimed the company used their OMG Girlz group's likeness for the dolls.
[Via]
