Looking fully recovered from gunshot wounds suffered in a mugging the week he was on trial, the 23-year-old performer used his pre-sentencing address to ruminate that his success as a rapper and film actor had perhaps caused him to lose "focus." The rap performer, famous for his lyrics that often deal with violence and sex, then said he was leaving his fate to God.
"I've been shot five times and He's brought me this far," Mr. Shakur said. "I put my faith in God. Once again, I have no shame. What happens, happens for a reason. I leave this in the hands of God."
Mr. Shakur and his road manager, Charles Fuller, 24, were convicted Dec. 1 of first-degree sexual abuse, but they were acquitted of weapons and sodomy charges. Mr. Shakur must serve 18 months on the sex-abuse charge before he is eligible for parole.
He has been arrested six times since 1993, in incidents ranging from assault to a gunfight, in which the charges were eventually dropped.
The two men had acknowledged in the trial that they had oral sex with the woman but insisted it was consensual.
Mr. Shakur's statement followed an emotional one by the victim in the case, a 21-year-old Brooklyn woman, whom Mr. Shakur was found guilty of groping in his room at the Parker Meridien Hotel on Nov. 18, 1993, when she was 19.
"I was star struck and in awe of this man, Tupac Shakur," the woman said in a firm, steady voice, in explaining why she had gone to the hotel.
"He took advantage of his stardom to abuse me and betray my trust."
The case grew out of an encounter between the woman and Mr. Shakur and three other men, including Mr. Fuller, in a hotel room on the 38th floor of the Parker Meridien.
The woman testified that she had had consensual oral sex with Mr. Shakur at a nightclub four days earlier. But in the hotel room, she said, Mr. Shakur wanted to share her with his friends, who forced themselves on her. The defense said that she had made the accusations out of jealousy when she saw Mr. Shakur with another woman.
In her statement in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, the woman said that Mr. Shakur and the three friends "set upon me like animals." Since then she said she has received threatening phone calls, lives in constant fear, has suffered nightmares and, while Mr. Shakur "has been glorified by his peers and fans," she has been viewed as a villain.
Calling for a stiff sentence, she concluded, "He should not be allowed to use his so-called celebrity status to avoid the consequences of his actions."
As he entered and left the courtroom, Mr. Shakur smiled cheerfully at 35 or so supporters, among them several young women who wept on hearing the sentence. At one point, during a recess, one of the women leaned over the rail and kissed him on the cheek before a court officer ordered her back to her seat.
As the victim addressed the court, Mr. Shakur stared intensely at her. Then he got up and apologized to her. But he went on to say: "I'm not apologizing for a crime." He added, "I hope in time you'll come forth and tell the truth."
It was not clear what he was apologizing for. Later he apologized again, saying, "I got so involved in my career that I didn't see this coming, that I wasn't more focused." He also apologized to "the youth of America," but he did not elaborate.
"I have no shame," he said. "I don't feel shame."
But Justice Daniel P. Fitzgerald said, "This was an act of brutal violence against a helpless woman." He said that Mr. Shakur had been the "instigator" of an "arrogant abuse of the victim" which culminated an escalating display of arrogance as he pursued his career.
Addressing the judge before sentencing, Mr. Shakur said: "I mean this with no disrespect, Judge -- you never paid attention to me. You never looked in my eyes." He added: "You never used the wisdom of Solomon. I always felt you had something against me."
Justice Fitzgerald did not respond to the rap star's complaint.
He could have given Mr. Shakur probation or imposed a maximum sentence of 2 1/3 to 7 years.
Acknowledging that Mr. Fuller had no criminal record, Justice Fitzgerald gave him four months in jail and five years' probation. Mr. Fuller, Mr. Shakur's road manager, had set up the date between the woman and Mr. Shakur and then had stood aside during the sexual assault, the judge said, thereby playing a "substantial role."
Michael Warren, Mr. Shakur's lawyer, and Robert Ellis, Mr. Fuller's, said they would appeal.
The assistant district attorney, Melissa Mourges, in seeking the maximum penalty, said that Mr. Shakur had been arrested in other cities on gun possession charges.
"He is only 23 years old," she said, "but he has a history of violence and an inability to control his temper." She said his rap lyrics glorified shooting police officers as well as rival gang members.
But Mr. Warren said the prosecutor's depiction was an unfair one. He said a more accurate one would show the rapper as a generous person who speaks to students about trying to get ahead in life