Nicki Minaj’s husband has narrowly escaped jail time, but he’s back on probation and must pay a hefty fine, a court recently determined. Kenneth Petty, who married Nicki in 2019, pleaded guilty last September to failing to register as a sex offender after moving to California in 2019.
According to Us Weekly, Kenneth was recently handed a sentence. been sentenced to 3 years probation, including 1 year of house arrest. He also has to pay a $55,000 fine.
Kenneth was originally convicted of attempted rape in 1995 after an incident involving a 16-year-old girl the year prior. He spent 4.5 years in prison before his release, though he must register as a sex offender in whatever state he lives in.
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Aside from the attempted rape conviction, Kenneth spent nearly a decade in prison after pleading guilty to first degree manslaughter in 2007.
Despite his criminal history, Nicki has defended her husband on numerous occasions. In 2018, the rapper felt compelled to respond to an Instagram post featuring her and her then-boyfriend after her followers criticized his past in the comments.
“He was 15, she was 16 … in a relationship,” she wrote in the comments of the post, Page Six notes. “But go awf, internet, y’all can’t run my life. y’all can’t even run y’all own life.”
She later shared another picture of them with an indirect reference to the backlash. “Oh they wanna talk? Let’s give’m smthn to talk about,” Nicki captioned the post.
Nicki has also started controversy for defending other known sex offenders, including her own brother, Jelani Maraj. In 2020, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison for sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl at his Long Island home.
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During the trial, Jelani’s defense attorney David Schwartz stated that Nicki was supporting her brother “100 percent” despite the allegations. The lawyer also said the claims of sexual abuse were false. “These are a bunch of lies,” Schwartz stated. “There’s a big, big motive to lie here which I can’t get into right now. But these are false accusations.”
In addition, Nicki has collaborated with rapper Tekashi69, who pleaded guilty in 2018 for sharing a graphic video featuring a 13-year-old who was performing a sexual act.
So far, Nicki and Kenneth (who share a 1-year-old son) have not publicly commented on his sentencing.
Sources: Us Weekly, Page Six, PEOPLE,
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