The good news for Lil Wayne (born Dwayne Carter) is that once he steps out of the gates at New York's Rikers Island prison on Thursday after serving nearly nine months of a one-year sentence for attempted possession of a gun, he truly is a free man.
"When he gets released on Thursday, he has satisfied his obligations to New York," the rapper's lawyer, Stacey Richman, told on Tuesday (November 2). "Part of the resolution of the case was that there's nothing [else], no probation or parole, because the plea was to attempted possession."
That doesn't mean Wayne will be totally free and clear. There's still the matter of his sentence in Arizona stemming from a January 22, 2008, arrest near a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint in which authorities claimed they found cocaine, Ecstasy and a handgun on Weezy's tour bus.
While Wayne was in Rikers, a plea deal was also reached in that case in which the MC was sentenced to three years of unsupervised probation, community service and no jail time. That deal had Wayne plead guilty to one count of possession of a dangerous drug in exchange for the dismissal of three other drug and weapons charges.
"Even though it's treated as a felony while he's on probation, if he completes his probation without any violations, the offense will be redesignated as a misdemeanor," Wayne's Arizona attorney, James Tilson, told. Aside from flying out to sign some paperwork sometime in the next few weeks, that means Wayne will not have to appear in court again in Arizona.
Tilson said Weezy's unsupervised probation will be transferred from Arizona to Florida, where that office will decide on what standard conditions of probation the rapper may have to adhere to. While he will not have a set number of monthly appointments, is not subject to drug testing and can travel and carry on with his music career, Tilson said it is up to Wayne's Florida probation officer to decide any other terms of his probation.
And though the plea in Arizona clears up any major remaining legal issues on Wayne's calendar, Tilson said any future felony gun or drug arrests could possibly land his client back in front of a judge in that state. "The prosecutor's office has the discretion to file a violation of probation if something else were to happen," Tilson said. "Chances are fairly slim that if it was not in Arizona or Yuma that they would, but it is totally up to the prosecutor's office."
Wayne intends to fly to his home in Miami and get right back in the lab as soon as he's out, and his plans also call for a cameo appearance at protégé Drake's Saturday night show in Las Vegas.
He penned his final letter from prison this week, thanking fans for their support and reflecting on his time behind bars. "I think back to when I first arrived and I had no clue what I'd be experiencing. I was never scared, worried, nor bothered by the situation," he wrote. "For that, I thank God, my family, and you, my amazing fans. I prayed for you all every night, as I'm now aware that I as in y'alls prayers as well."
Lil Wayne has managed to remain successful while away from the spotlight. He was named #7 on the 2010 Hottest MCs in the Game list, his album I Am Not a Human Being debuted at #1 on the charts, and his Drake collaboration "Right Above It" currently rests at #20 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
It's "Welcome Home Weezy" week at MTV News. Check back every day for articles, updates, blog posts and more as we track the countdown to the Carter's homecoming. Stay tuned!