Submitted by: kirkland on Wednesday April 21st, 2004 at 04:42 PM EST

Hip-hop artist Lil' Kim will go on trial in November on charges she lied to a grand jury investigating a 2001 shootout involving members of her entourage outside a Manhattan radio station, a federal judge said on Monday.

U.S. District Judge Gerard Lynch said the trial would begin on November 15 and would last until about December 6.

Lil' Kim, 28, whose real name is Kimberly Jones, was among four people, including one of her managers, named in an indictment unsealed last week in Manhattan federal court.

She is charged with one count of conspiracy, three counts of perjury, three counts of making false statements and one count of obstruction. The obstruction count carries a maximum prison term of 10 years and all the other charges carry possible five-year terms.

"Kim is not a criminal," her lawyer, Mel Sachs, told reporters after the hearing. "These charges have been extracted out of context, magnified out of proportion. She's been singled out and used because of who she is in the music industry."

The diminutive Kim, wearing a black vest secured with a wide weight-lifter style brown leather belt and large buckle, made no comment.

The charges stem from a Feb. 25, 2001, incident outside Hot 97 radio station, where Jones and associates from the rap group Junior M.A.F.I.A. had appeared as on-air guests.

After they left the studio, members of Jones' entourage and a rival hip-hop group were involved in a shootout, in which one man was injured.

A video showed Jones standing on the street during the shootout and then jumping into a limo with people suspected in the incident.

» Read full story @ Reuters