At Little Rock hearing, rapper withdraws request to change guilty plea to gun charge

This Sunday, July 2, 2017, file photo provided by the Jefferson County Sheriff shows Ricky Hampton, also known as Finese2Tymes.
This Sunday, July 2, 2017, file photo provided by the Jefferson County Sheriff shows Ricky Hampton, also known as Finese2Tymes.

Ricky Hampton — a Memphis rapper who was performing under the name Finese2Tymes when a shootout broke out last summer inside the Power Ultra Lounge in downtown Little Rock — withdrew his request to change his plea in a federal court case stemming from a nightclub incident in Forrest City.

Hampton pleaded guilty in March to being a felon in possession of a firearm in a case stemming from an incident outside the Forrest City club. In October, he asked to withdraw his plea and to have a different attorney appointed to represent him.

But on Wednesday, when he appeared in court for the hearing on his requests, Hampton told U.S. District Judge Leon Holmes that he had changed his mind. He really doesn’t want to withdraw his guilty plea, he said.

He said that he kind of panicked when he first saw his pre-sentence report, thinking he had agreed to something he hadn’t intended to. He also said Wednesday he wants to keep his attorney, after all.

Holmes accepted Hampton’s request to withdrew his motion. The federal judge also agreed to postpone sentencing so that attorneys could look into a witness that Hampton wants to have testify on his behalf at his sentencing. The sentencing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Dec. 6.

The federal charge stems from an incident in the early hours of June 25, outside Club Envy in Forrest City, in east Arkansas, where Hampton had just finished performing. A female motorist’s back windshield was shattered by gunfire, and her neck was grazed by a bullet, as she sped away after becoming trapped in a traffic jam while trying to leave the club.

In addition to that case, Hampton has a case in Pulaski County Circuit Court. Early on July 1, at the now-closed nightclub at 220 W. Sixth St., in Little Rock, 25 people were wounded in the crossfire of gang warfare and others were injured trying to escape.

He faces a charge of possession of a firearm by certain persons.

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