Beating the rap

Beating the rap
NEW YORK -- Bronx rapper Ricky "Slick Rick" Walters may be close to freedom after a judge concluded the government erred in imprisoning him for nearly a year and a half to await deportation to Britain -- a land he barely knows.
U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood cleared the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame inductee to be freed with a 20-page legal analysis of his case that decided the Board of Immigration Appeals should never have reversed an earlier decision to keep him free.
After 17 months in prison in Bradenton, Fla., the 38-year-old Walters was elated when he heard of the decision, sent to lawyers in the case Friday and recorded in federal court in Manhattan this week.
& quot;He's very happy and looking forward to getting released," his attorney Alex Solomiany said.