Rapper 42 Dugg was sentenced to a year in prison this week for failing to present himself for his previous prison sentence. The rapper’s real name is Dion Marquise Hayes, and he led authorities on a nationwide chase earlier this year when he tried o evade his prison term. His overall sentence has now been increased, but it could have been much worse.
Hayes has had legal troubles for years, but this week’s sentencing goes back to November of 2020 when he was arrested for carrying a firearm as a previously convicted felon. After a long and arduous legal process, he pleaded guilty in February of 2022 in exchange for a light sentence – six months in a West Virginia prison camp. However, the 29-year-old rapper did not present himself on April 12, 2022 to begin that sentence, instead trying to evade authorities while still posting actively on social media.
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Hayes was arrested again in May of 2022 – this time by federal agents. The rapper has been held in jail since then as the court tires to decide how to proceed. According to a report by XXL Mag, his sentence was officially handed down on Wednesday – one year in prison for failure to surrender for service of sentence, plus three years of supervised release afterward. Hayes must also pay a fine of $20,000 and must submit to testing for illegal drugs.
When arrested last year, Hayes had an interesting excuse for evading the authorities. He told the agents who caught up with him that he is a sovereign citizen and he does not consider himself subject to the laws of the U.S. The sovereign citizen movement has been active in the U.S. since the 1970s and is generally regarded as unsound by legal experts. In 2010, the FBI described sovereign citizen adherents as “anti-government extremists who believe that even though they physically reside in this country, they are separate or ‘sovereign’ from the United States.”
In spite of this provocative defense, Hayes’ sentence could have been much more harsh. According to a report by The Detroit News, the rapper faced a maximum of 5 years in prison and $250,000 in fines. The rapper made a few posts about his impending sentence on Instagram but has since deleted them.
Hayes was previously in prison from 2010 to 2017 for carjacking and possession of illegal firearms. When he was released, he became an overnight success in the hip-hop scene thanks to collaborations with Yo Gotti and Lil Baby. He featured on two of Lil Baby’s songs – “We Paid” and “Grace,” and released two of his own mixtapes. Sadly, it looks like it will be a while now before there is a follow-up.
