Nicki Minaj‘s husband, Kenneth Petty, has filed a lawsuit against the State of New York and its Criminal Justice Services division to demand the removal of his name from the sex offender registry on the grounds that he never got the chance to challenge it.
Petty served four and half years in prison after he pleaded guilty to attempting to rape a 16-year-old girl in 1994. Petty, who was also 16 at the time, was convicted the following year.
Per legal documents obtained by TMZ, the lawsuit alleges Petty never received any notice of a hearing in 2004 while he was still behind bars. The lawsuit states that the hearing would have afforded Petty the chance to appeal against his level 2 sex offender categorization.
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The lawsuit claims Petty was not notified about the hearing, adding that the notice was rather sent to an address he wasn’t a resident of as he was incarcerated at the time. The plaintiff also claims the “Kenny Petty” signature on the notice was not signed by him and was falsified.
The lawsuit claims that the person who signed the notice also told authorities he would not be present at the hearing. Because of those alleged circumstances, Petty claims he was denied his constitutional right to due process to appeal against his risk level categorization, TMZ reported.
The plaintiff claims this has impacted him negatively as he has suffered financial loss as well as humiliation. Petty also cited his arrest in California last year for failing to register as a sex offender when he entered the state. Petty, therefore, wants the State of New York and its Criminal Justice Services division to wipe his name off its sex offenders list.
Petty’s lawsuit comes in the wake of a different lawsuit that was filed against him and his wife by the victim he admitted to trying to rape. In her suit, the woman, identified as Jennifer Hough, accuses Petty and the Super Bass rapper of harassing and intimidating her, NBC News reported.
Hough also alleges the couple have made attempts to have her recant her testimony of what transpired the day Petty allegedly assaulted her sexually.
