JA RULE - JUDGE SCOLDS JA RULE FOR MISSING COURT DATE

Rapper JA RULE has been reprimanded by a New York judge for failing to show up for an April (08) court date - because he was on tour in Germany.
On Wednesday (28May08), lawyer Stacey Richman blamed the error on the organisers of the German tour, arguing the dates had been booked by mistake.
Supreme Court Justice Micki Scherer told the star - real name Jeffrey Atkins - it was "no excuse", but granted him a break when she agreed to let him out of the country again for performances in Russia, reports the New York Daily News.
She told the rapper, "There was no excuse in my view for your absence (last month)."
Scherer said Atkins must give five days' notice of any business trips that would take him out of New York City's metropolitan area before he departs for Russia, and warned him he must check in with the court upon his return from Moscow.
Atkins, 32, his road manager Dennis Cherry and his driver Mohamed Gamal, were arrested and charged with criminal weapons possession last summer (07), after a loaded semi-automatic firearm was allegedly found in a car they were travelling in.