Rapper 'Da Brat' draws 3-year sentence

DECATUR, Ga., Aug. 22 (UPI) -- U.S. rap star Da Brat, real name Shawntae Harris, was sentenced to three years in prison Friday for hitting another woman in the head with a liquor bottle.

Presiding in an Decatur, Ga., courtroom, DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Gail Flake also sentenced Harris, 34, to seven years probation and 200 hours of community service, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

"She feels a great deal of remorse for what she did," Harris's lawyer, Thomas Clegg, told the newspaper. "She is willing to accept responsibility for what she has done."

Flake also required Harris to get substance abuse treatment and a mental evaluation and attend anger management classes. She pleaded guilty to a felony aggravated assault charge stemming from an Oct. 31, 2007, incident during a private Halloween party at the Studio 72 nightclub in Atlanta, owned by rap entrepreneur Jermaine Dupri.

The Journal-Constitution said Harris attacked Atlanta Falcons football cheerleader Shayla Stevens with a nearly full liquor bottle, hitting her on the head and causing her to fall down some stairs to a cement floor and sustain a severe facial cut.