Article: Rick James handed 5-year jail term; judge calls sentence 'a gift.'

Singer Rick James, who gained fame with the 1981 smash hit Superfreak, recently began a five-year jail sentence after losing his bid to stay out of jail for assaulting two women while under the influence of cocaine.

Judge Michael R. Hoff called the sentence "a gift," considering James could have been given a dozen years to life in prison for the violent attacks on two women in two separate incidents.

James was sentenced to five years and four months in prison after the judge in Los Angeles refused an appeal to allow him to reenter a drug treatment center.

James entered a plea of no contest to assault charges that stemmed from the attack at his ...

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