14 DAY TRIAL // Earl Simmons, best known under his stage name as DMX, has never been a stranger to legal woes, and this time is no exception either. However, for the many times he ended up in police custody and consequently on the defendants’ bench in the court of law, his defense in the lawsuit he is now involved in is unlikely to hold water, ContactMusic reports.
This happens because DMX is reportedly set to answer charges of identity fraud with a simple “I didn’t mean it,” as a friend quoted by the source told the media. The charges stem from DMX’s 2008 hospitalization for pneumonia, when he not only identified himself under another name, but also left the hospital without paying the bill. He was later arrested at his home and charged with theft and identity fraud.
According to Mark “Po” Dean, the rapper only wished to avoid unwanted media attention. He fled the hospital, Dean claims, when word had already gotten out in the press as to his whereabouts, but not before making sure the receptionist got his phone number to discuss payment arrangements. “I wanted him to just get the service immediately... Usually when you say an artist like DMX, everybody is so star-struck they [are] not concentrating on what’s going on.” was Dean’s explanation for the false name he gave the hospital staff.
Apparently, this is just a bad case of misunderstanding, despite the reportedly still unpaid $7,500 hospital bill. “[The police] ran up in his [DMX's] crib saying that they was [sic] looking for papers from the hospital because he used a false name... It wasn’t really that.” Dean also said, hinting that this would also be the rapper’s defense in court.
Be that as it may, DMX is still currently in jail, where he awaits sentencing on four counts of animal cruelty (in which case he entered a guilty plea), drug possession and theft in three different cases, several sources report.