NEW YORK (AP) — Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine tried unsuccessfully Tuesday to persuade a federal judge not to send him to jail, calling him “bro” and insisting he never meant to violate the terms of his probation from a felony conviction. Judge Paul A. Engelmayer in Manhattan ordered him detained for at least two weeks, citing alleged misconduct such as failing drug tests and declining to get required permission to travel — acts that he said would reflect a lack of respect for the law.
The judge also noted that the performer left the Dominican Republic this year, violating a court order to remain there after he was arrested in January on domestic violence charges and detained in October 2023 after he was accused of assaulting a local music producer. His lawyers say he's being treated unfairly there in a corrupt judicial system. In 2019, Engelmayer sentenced him to two years in prison in a racketeering case.
The musician, whose real name is Daniel Hernandez, pleaded guilty in 2019 to charges accusing him of joining and directing violence by the gang known as Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods. Tekashi 6ix9ine was supposed to appear in court on Tuesday morning. When he didn't, Engelmayer signed an arrest warrant.
When the rapper showed up later that morning, he was arrested and accused of violating his probation repeatedly through what a prosecutor described as a “pattern of noncompliance.” Engelmayer, who had freed Tekashi 6ix9ine months early in April 2020 by granting a compassion.
