14 DAY TRIAL // “Yeezus” singer Kanye West manages to avoid prosecution in his assault case of a photographer last year by cutting a deal in which he's placed on probation for two years and has to undergo anger management therapy sessions.
According to TMZ, West chose to plead no contest to the misdemeanor battery but since the City Attorney did not make him plead guilty, there is no official admission of guilt. His no contest plea was taken as a sign of good faith and thus his attempted grand theft charge was dismissed.
For those of you not familiar with Kanye's antics, the singer got slapped with a lawsuit when he failed to ignore a group of paparazzi last summer while at the airport. As photos and videos from the event show, West attacked a photographer, Daniel Ramos and attempted to wrestle the camera away from him, which earned him an assault and battery charge, as well as an attempted grand theft.
The judge overseeing the case put West on a two-year probation for his misdemeanor battery, during which time he must also serve 250 hours of community service, as well as attend 24 anger management sessions and pay restitution to the victim for damaged equipment and medical bills incurred.
The verdict did not please the victim, Daniel Ramos, who said that he wanted West to be thrown in jail. “I was only doing my job, and he broke the law. I believe that if I did what he did to me, I would have been put behind bars,” he said in court.
The photographer also argued during the hearing that Kanye's attack caused him emotional injuries as well as lingering trauma. He also maintained that the attack was unprovoked and unjustified. In the video later released of the attack, Ramos can be heard asking Kanye to talk to him and then the singer flies into a fit of fury, trying to snatch at his camera while at the Los Angeles International Airport on July 19, 2013.
After a short 15-second scuffle, West backs off, leaving the photographer clueless as to what had caused the violent outbreak “I simply asked him a question, and I didn't use any vulgar language” Ramos said, following with “In fact, I gave him a compliment and told him that he was cool.”
Kanye West later had similar violent behavior at the beginning of the year, when he allegedly pummeled a young man in a Los Angeles chiropractor's office for hurling racial slurs at fiancée Kim Kardashian. The victim later settled for a quarter of million dollars.