CASSIDY - CASSIDY FACING ANOTHER ARREST

Jailed rapper CASSIDY is set to be re-arrested on first-degree murder charges, after prosecutors announced plans to refile the charges against him.

The HUSTLA rapper has been behind bars in Philadelphia prison ever since turning himself over to police on 17 June (05), when he was charged with the first-degree murder of 22-year-old DESMOND HAWKINS and the attempted murders of two other men, all stemming from a 15 April (05) shooting incident.

On 16 August (05), Municipal Court Judge MARSHA NEIFIELD reduced Cassidy's first-degree murder count to murder in the third after ballistics evidence indicated bullets came from both sides during the shooting; police alleged Cassidy and two others fired shots on three unarmed men, killing one of them - Hawkins.

Now Cassidy's case will go before Common Pleas Court Judge BENJAMIN LERNER, according to the rapper's defence attorney, FORTUNATO PERRI JR.

A preliminary hearing could take place as early as next week (ends16SEP06), reports MTV News.

Perri says, "We'll have a final answer as to whether this thing's going to go to trial or not, what the (official) charges will be and what the bail status will be."