By Chris Richburg
Rap diva Foxy Brown is facing an uphill battle, as prosecutors have opposed a request from her lawyer to allow her to go to California to repair an electronic ear implant.
Brown (born Inga Marchand) is currently serving a one-year sentence at Rikers Island for repeatedly violating her probation.
Although the rapper’s attorney, Laura Dilimetin, asked acting state Supreme Court Justice Melissa Jackson Thursday (Jan. 17) to amend her client's sentence so she could make a trip to Los Angeles' House Clinic for a Jan. 30 exam, Jackson demanded proof that Brown would ultimately go deaf unless the trip is made.
Assistant District Attorney Cindy Chung objected to Dilimetin’s request to amend Marchand’s sentence while noting that the rapper couldn’t provide anything to show that the medical procedure could not be done in New York.
"The mere existence of a debilitating health condition does not merit a sentence reduction, even if it is a terminal illness," Chung told Jackson. "Basically, your honor, this is a desperate and frivolous petition."
Marchand previously submitted a four-page letter to the judge, asking for her release in light of fears that her health will suffer because of the malfunctioning batteries on her hearing device.
"I am terrified of not hearing a fire alarm go off, or being locked in a cell, and someone not being kind enough to let me out, since not everyone understands the severity of my condition," wrote Marchand, who described herself as a "good person with an incredible heart," despite her negative image.
In papers filed for the rapper’s release that were filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, Dilimetin stated that there may be "one or two places" in New York that do cochlear implant adjustments, but Marchand needs to go to California if she wants her "progressively deteriorating hearing loss" properly repaired.
"Her condition is worsening in jail since she cannot obtain at Rikers the proper treatment," Dilimentin wrote.
The request is the latest legal development in the continuing saga surrounding Marchand’s incarceration since she revealed problems with her hearing during a court appearance in 2004.
In recent months she has made headlines for being arrested for a brawl at an East New York housing project and allegedly hurling a phone at a neighbor.
Police took Marchand into custody in February 2007 on charges she spit, swore and sprayed hair-extension glue at a Florida shopkeeper.
The rapper was sentenced in September 2006 for violating probation. She was put on probation after pleading guilty to the misdemeanor assault of two manicurists at a Manhattan nail salon in August 2004.
During Thursday’s hearing, Jackson ordered Dilimetin to give Marchand’s medical records to the district attorney, the Department of Correction and the Department of Probation so they could file position papers.