After a six-hour session with a judge, a man that calls himself the "King of Pimps" pleaded guilty to promoting prostitution and said that his attorney represented him "unbelievably well." Then, at his sentencing three weeks later, according to the New York Times, he called his attorney "the Devil" and requested a new one.
At the sentencing on May 8, J.I. shouted over the judge and singled out his attorney, M.J.H., for unjust treatment. The claim, according to J.I., was due to his newfound knowledge of a 2010 profile of his attorney.
In the courtroom J.I. yelled out, "I don't trust (M.J.H.)! (M.J.H.) to me is the Devil!
Judge Thomas Farber asked J.I. to quiet down, but his request was largely ignored.
J.I. shouted again, this time saying, "I don't want to pay (M.J.H.) $420,000! Can you help me?" To which Farber replied, "Mr. (J.I.) you don't have a penny to your name at this point."
This most recent act of J.I.'s is considered to be one of many grandstanding gestures he has made in his quest to steal headlines. It began in 2005 when a magazine article named his as a pimp and he was convicted in 2006 for attempting to promote prostitution.
In interviews J.I. continually has referred to himself as the "King of Pimps" and made comments on other prostitution cases in the news.
In the summer of 2011 J.I. was indicted for providing a customer with a prostitute for three days at the Trump International Hotel on Columbus Circle. During the three days J.I. allegedly visited the hotel room twice, selling his customer over $4,700 in cocaine.
This past April prosecutors filed a letter in the court that said that they had telephone recordings, taken from Rikers Island, of J.I. stating that he and M.J.H. planned to stage-manage his trial. The plan was allegedly hatched to increase the box-office for a movie planned on the story of J.I.'s life.
Allegedly the two conspired to hire women to wear t-shirts emblazoned with the words, "Free the Pimp" just outside the State Supreme Court in Manhattan. J.I. was to arrive in coifed hair, makeup and a pink tuxedo.
The alleged arrangement, according to Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., was so that M.J.H. could make the trial seemingly advantageous – over his client accepting a plea deal.
In the long run J.I. pleaded guilty to promoting prostitution, criminal sale of a controlled substance and money laundering. He is facing at least four years in prison.
Thought J.I. claimed that M.J.H.'s 2010 profile caused him to fire the attorney, Farber told him that M.J.H. had negotiated an "extraordinarily generous offer" for his client and that if J.I. were to engage a different lawyer the new lawyer could never be released from the case.
J.I. did hire a new lawyer, who arrived in court wearing a fuchsia porkpie hat.
J.I. is considering a withdrawal of his plea deal, however, Farber warned him that if he did, "Heaven help you."
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