Tekashi 6ix9ine was slapped with a 45-day jail sentence as punishment for violating the terms of his release late last month — as a Manhattan federal judge pilloried him, saying that the rainbow-haired rapper doesn’t “believe the rules apply to you.”
The sentence — imposed by Judge Paul A. Engelmayer on Tuesday morning — is a bit weightier than the one federal prosecutors agreed to last week, which included 30 days in jail and the same amount of supervised release.
And once the 28-year-old rapper — whose real name is Daniel Hernandez — emerges from the clink, he’ll face 30 days of home incarceration, 30 days of home detention and 30 days of a curfew, the judge ruled.
“Your breach of the court’s trust is profound,” Engelmayer told the troubled musician.
“Bottom line, I see a pattern. Five [probation] violations says you don’t believe the rules apply to you — maybe you believe that’s because you famous rapper Tekashi 6ix 9ine.”
The tattooed, rainbow-haired star from Bushwick was only a few months away from being free of the court’s supervision when he was picked up Oct. 29 after his probation officer complained that he had failed drug tests and was ignoring rules requiring he get permission to travel.
Those conditions stem from a 2019 sentencing in which Engelmayer hit Hernandez with two years in prison after he pleaded guilty to accusations that he joined and directed violence by a gang known as the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods.
But he was let out of jail in April 2020 after complaining that his ailments made him particularly susceptible to the coronavirus, which at the time was ravaging the nation’s jails and prisons.
Tekashi was supposed to stay out of trouble as part of that release.
Of course, the hip-hop provocateur didn’t hold up his end of the bargain.
Engelmayer specified a laundry list of new charges that included taking off to go to Vegas, using meth, ignoring his drug tests and then lying to his probation officer about whether he’d left the judicial district in Florida.
Hernandez — who appeared in court wearing a black jail jumpsuit and an orange t-shirt — copped to all of it and admitted that he’d ignored an order to go to drug treatment and used a “controlled substance that I wasn’t supposed to” instead.
He also admitted leaving the jurisdiction without permission, then lying about it.
Just before the sentencing, Hernandez’s attorney, Lance Lazzaro, raised several concerns about how his client has been in solitary confinement for the last two weeks — and claimed Hernandez has only gotten one phone call and two showers during that time.
The judge recommended he be let out of “the box” — but that could be a problem, since Hernandez testified against a Blood gang member and, in effect, has a target on his back.
Tekashi’s testimony in the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods trial helped put away his former fellow gangbangers — including a gang leader who got a 17-year sentence on drug dealing and racketeering charges.
His two-year sentence was the result of his federal plea deal.
“I do think this was a wakeup call,” Lazzaro said, adding that his client “always has to look over his shoulder for the rest of his life.”
“The court’s messages have been made loud and clear — do what the probation says.”
The rapper also has a pending case in the Dominican Republic for a variety of charges, including domestic violence, battery and a failure to appear.
It’s not clear how he will answer those accusations when he’s not allowed to travel.
“We’re at a loss on how to factor in the alleged conduct in another country,” Assistant US attorney Johnathan Rebold said.
Hernandez, for his part, apologized to the judge and the court before his sentencing.
“This morning, before you make a decision, I ask for mercy,” Hernandez said. “I’m very sorry. I want to be back home with my mom and brother … I’m feeling like I let them down”
“I don’t want you to get the wrong impression of me. I make a lot of bad mistakes [but] I don’t go out of my way to break the law … I tried my best, but I can do better.”
Outside court, Lazzaro said he thought it was a “fair outcome.”
“I don’t think the violation of supervised release was the most serious of specifications, and I think he should have granted him time served,” the attorney said.
“However, we’re not disappointed. A 45-day sentence is not something he can’t overcome,” he continued, adding that the judge could have imprisoned Hernandez for anywhere from three to nine months.
“He got well under what he was facing.”
But the lawyer continued to rail against the 24-hour lockdown under which he says Hernandez has suffered.
“It’s inhumane,” Lazzaro said. “The judge made a point of recognizing that. Hopefully, the Bureau of Prison would take him out of that. Really, it’s made for terrorists.”
“I recognize there’s a safety concern,” he continued. “However, nobody should ever be in [lockdown]. Hopefully they listen to the judge. Ultimately, the Bureau of Prisons can do whatever they want.”
Hernandez did, however, get credit for the two weeks he’s been jailed since his Oct. 29 arrest — meaning he’ll do 30 days, then get out.
His attorney said he should be home by the second week of December.
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