Rapper, Turk, pleads to reduced charge in shooting of deputy

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A rapper pleaded Wednesday to a reduced charge in exchange for a shorter prison sentence in the shooting of a sheriff’s deputy in a 2004 drug raid.
Tab “Turk” Virgil, 25, entered an Alford plea, also known as a best-interest plea, to attempted second-degree murder and was sentenced 12 years in prison.
He had faced up to 25 years if convicted on the previous charge of attempted first-degree murder.
Last year Virgil was convicted of being a felon, drug addict and fugitive in possession of a firearm and was sentenced to 10 years. He had a previous felony drug conviction from his native New Orleans.
Virgil was accused of firing shots from a bedroom closet during the drug raid that struck SWAT team deputy Chris Harris four times. Virgil denied ever firing the shots.
Harris was still recovering when he attended Virgil’s sentencing on the federal charge last October.
Attorney Jay Bailey said Wednesday he was working with federal authorities to allow Virgil to serve his two sentences concurrently, which state prosecutors said they would not oppose.
“If he’s accepted over there he’s essentially serving everything in the federal system,” Bailey said.
Virgil rapped under the handle “Turk” for New Orleans label Cash Money Records, first as part of the group Hot Boys with Juvenile, B.G. and Lil’ Wayne.
He recorded two solo albums _ “Young & Thuggin'” in 2001 and “Raw & Uncut” in 2003.