Hip-hop legend Eric B., of the iconic 80’s group Eric B. and Rakim, was arrested over a 17-year-old warrant, leaving the deejay suffering from anxiety over the experience.
According to NJ.com, Eric B., 56, who was born in New York as Eric Louis Barrier, has been released on bail after two weeks, but is now frightened for his future on the hit TV show “Blue Bloods.”
Eric B. plays Detective Mike Gee in “Blue Bloods” as a friend of Donnie Wahlberg’s character Danny Reagan.
The rap pioneer been held at the Bergen County Jail in New Jersey since Oct. 28 on a 2002 bench warrant for failing to appear 17 years ago at sentencing after he admitted to an assault.
A more pressing problem is the fact that Eric B. had just made his debut on the CBS show “Blue Bloods.” Because of this legal entanglement, Eric B. is now “literally at wits’ end and overcome with anxiety,” his attorney Patrick Toscano told NJ.com.
Superior Court Judge James Guida allowed Eric B. to obtain bond because, as NJ.com reported, the judge said: “I am convinced you are not a flight risk or danger to the community.”
The judge is also confused as to why it took `17 years for the warrant to be served.
Eric B.’s attorney blames the 2002 no-show on the star’s former attorney, Paul Bergrin. This attorney is now rotting in prison for life on a host of felonies, including murder conspiracy and racketeering.
“Mr. Bergrin told Mr. Barrier that his case was ‘dismissed’ because he was accepted into pre-trial intervention,” Toscano wrote in a letter to the court last week, NJ.com reports.
“When Mr. Barrier asked Mr. Bergrin if he was sure of that, Mr. Bergrin advised him that he definitely did not need to appear, and that Mr. Bergrin would be in court on that date to handle everything for him,” the letter states, according to NJ.com.
Another issue at hand is the fact that Eric B.’s next court date is set on the same day he is set to appear in Delaware for his next show alongside fellow legend Rakim, 51, whose real name is William Michael Griffin Jr.
