Rapper violates order, faces more prison time

• By JOE GYAN JR.
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Nov 10, 2009 - Page: 3B

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Baton Rouge rapper Torrence “Lil Boosie’’ Hatch’s inability to follow a judge’s instructions means he will serve about two years in prison instead of one, prosecutors and his attorney said Monday.

After the 26-year-old Hatch pleaded guilty in September to a third-offense marijuana possession charge, state District Judge Chip Moore ordered him to be electronically monitored and to clear his concert dates with the court while awaiting sentencing.

Under a plea deal, Moore was expected to sentence Hatch to 10 years in prison with all but the first two years suspended, meaning he would likely serve about a year.

But because Hatch violated portions of Moore’s post-plea instructions, the judge sentenced him Monday to 10 years with all but the first four years suspended.

“The max he would do is two years,’’ East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore III said after court.

James Manasseh, one of Hatch’s attorneys, agreed with the district attorney’s calculation.

Judge Moore told Hatch, “I really hope that you get it straight.’’

“You have the ability to change people’s lives for the better, including your own,’’ the judge said.

Manasseh said Hatch has no one to blame but himself.

“I’m disappointed because it’s bad decision-making,’’ he said.

Moore said Hatch will be on probation for five years after he is released from prison.

East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff’s deputies seized a bag of marijuana, a cigar containing the drug, and a gun from a car driven by Hatch on Oct. 22, 2008.

Deputies testified at a hearing in August that they smelled the strong odor of marijuana when they pulled alongside Hatch’s car on the southbound Interstate 110 exit ramp at Government Street.