Both were felons caught with guns. Popular rapper T.I. was sentenced to a year and a day in prison after he pleaded guilty to possessing three machine guns and two silencers, all bought from an undercover federal agent and just a fraction of all the weapons taken from his house and car that day.

In comparison, James Harold Ingram, an unknown, got two years in prison when federal agents, investigating reports he had a moonshine operation, arrested him with four rifles and marijuana he had planned to sell.

Joey Ivansco/AJC (ENLARGE)

Rapper T.I. speaks to an audience at Stockbridge High School earlier this month. Many agree his rapport with kids may deter them from crime, which earned him a break in his sentencing.

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T.I., whose legal name is Clifford Harris Jr., had something to offer beyond his cooperation and admission of guilt: his fame, his name and his potential influence over kids who might think guns and violence are cool.

Ingram had nothing.

While some have suggested T.I.'s unusual deferred sentence is lenient, U.S. Attorney David Nahmias said it was negotiated because Harris and his attorneys offered a plan to prevent crime. His prison sentence of one year and a day begins only after he has spent at least 1,000 hours preaching the message that violence and guns are bad. With earned time off, his prison stint could be cut to just over 10 months.

But if he fails to meet conditions, he could be sent for prison for almost six years.

"It's not ... because he's a star he gets a lower sentence," Nahmias said. "Being a star isn't a reason to be targeted or a reason for a lower sentence. If you help convict others, you get a lower sentence. What he proposed was to go out and help prevent crime. If he's able to prevent a crime, that's something you should get a reduced sentence for."

It's his star quality that makes the plan workable, legal experts say.

"He got it because he's a celebrity and has a bigger impact and is able to offer more to offset the sentence," said defense attorney Michael Trost, a former prosecutor. "Do I think he got it just because he's a celebrity? No."

Former U.S. Attorney Kent Alexander, now Emory University vice president and general counsel said, if "he manages to deter five or six kids from a life of crime, something like this could work. It is unusual because he's getting a really good deal ... but he's in a unique position. It's going to be very difficult for T.I. to stick with all the terms through the coming year. All it takes is that one slip-up."

Federal agents arrested Harris last fall after his bodyguard, acting on the rapper's behalf, bought three machine guns and two silencers from an undercover agent. ATF agents arrested Harris when he took delivery from the bodyguard. He pleaded guilty to possessing two silencers, three machine guns, a rifle and six handguns. But in total, federal officers found 24 handguns, machine guns and rifles in Harris' Range Rover and at his house in College Park three machine guns, including the ones included in the plea. Harris pleaded guilty to illegal possession of firearms and possession of a firearms by a felon. He had been convicted in 1998 in Cobb County of cocaine possession with intent to distribute.

The full sentence calls for him to spend 1,500 hours talking to at-risk children and teens; including 1,000 due before prison. After he is released, Harris has a year on house arrest and two more on probation. The government fined him $100,000.

But is his deal unequal treatment for those without the gift of talent or notoriety? That's the question asked by public defender Nicole Kaplan, who represented Ingram.

"They believe [the Harris sentence is] going to do some good," Kaplan said. "But I think they're wrong about that ... He's going to do just enough time to get some street cred.

"Other [defendants] don't understand why he's being treated different. When they're told there is nothing that can be done [for them] it breeds an appearance of unfairness," Ingram said. "And all these youngsters aren't going to get it. ....It perpetuates the perception that you can buy justice because he's rich and famous. In my mind, the benefits don't outweigh the risks."

Kaplan's client was arrested after a tip that he was selling moonshine and drugs out of his house in Blue Ridge.

Already a felon, Ingram was indicted in late 2004 for possession of less than 50 kilograms of marijuana with intent to distribute and for possessing four rifles as part of his drug operation. Seven months later, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years in prison, the punishment dictated by mandatory sentencing guidelines that are now advisory.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys say no two cases are alike, and because of changing sentencing rules it's difficult to discern patterns or typical sentences.

"Every case is different," said defense attorney Paul Kish. "Just because a person has notoriety and money, does that mean that should be held against him?"

Sentences imposed between 1987 through early 2005 were controlled by guidelines. Now they are not. Other cases in recent years show a wide variance.

Larry Bush was a core member of a group accused of making and selling 33 machine guns in Georgia, Alabama and Kentucky. Bush, of Lawrenceville, pleaded guilty in 2006 and was sentenced to nine months in prison. Federal prosecutors said he could have gotten as much as 10 years.

Another man in that case, Michael Miller, was sentenced to a year and a day in prison for pleading guilty to five charges involving weapons, but he could have been sentenced to as much as a decade on each count, prosecutors said at the time.

Aaron Meyers of Atlanta pleaded guilty in 2002 to possession of a firearm by a felon. Meyers, who was mentally retarded according to case records, previously spent 10 years in a state prison for a robbery some said should have been blamed on his twin brother. For the gun charge, Meyers was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison.

Robert Clymore, a soldier from Fayetteville, N.C., pleaded guilty last August to bringing a machine gun home with him from Iraq. He was sentenced to 15 months in prison.

"I completely applaud the lawyers on both sides [in the Harris case] for being creative and coming up with a resolution that not only benefits society but imposes some punishment on the defendant," Kish said. "On the other hand, I sincerely hope we can allow this creative resolution go beyond where the defendant is high profile and has money ... I'm very worried about that unequal treatment."